NYC plans to demolish two NYCHA buildings, build new apartments for public housing residents

NYCHA will announce on Wednesday a $1.5 billion plan to demolish and redevelop two massive and crumbling public housing complexes in Manhattan, City Hall confirmed.

The sweeping redevelopment deal calls for the construction of more than 2,000 new public housing apartments at the Fulton Houses and Chelsea-Elliot Houses, enough for every resident currently residing at the existing buildings, officials said late Tuesday.

“This is how you create new public housing for the next generation, this is what we need,” said Miguel Avecedo, president of the Fulton Houses Tenant Association.

The new units would include amenities rarely seen in public housing, including resident-controlled in-unit heating and cooling, new dishwashers, washers and dryers.

Under the plan, which was first reported by The New York Times, rents will remain fixed at 30% of a tenant’s income.

City officials took pains Tuesday to point out the heavy tenant involvement in the crafting of the plan, which began as an attempt to rehabilitate the existing low and high-rise buildings.

However, the buildings were found to be in such a state of disrepair that it would be cheaper and easier to knock them down and start over.

“We can’t continue to depend on money the federal government hasn’t given to public housing for decades,” Avecedo said.

“All these buildings are going to do is continue to deteriorate,” he added.

“It’s not fair to residents who have to keep living in deteriorating conditions.”

Authorities will finance the project in part by allowing the construction of an additional 3,500 apartments across the two campuses: Roughly 2,600 units will charge market rate rents in one of the toniest parts of Manhattan, generating substantial revenues; while the remaining 900 units would be set aside for working class and middle-income households.

Officials have sought for years to allow market-rate development at NYCHA campuses as one way to help finance the estimated $40 billion in badly needed repairs across the agency’s 270-plus campuses across the city.

The reconstruction and redevelopment of both campuses will be spearheaded by Essence Development and Related Companies, which built nearby Hudson Yards.

In 2019, NYCHA first floated the possibility of demolishing rise buildings in the Fulton Houses to make space for new apartments, but turned back amid fierce opposition from tenants who did not believe the authority would hold up to its promise to ensure they got housing.

“We support the tenants and believe they should have control over their own destinies,” said local Councilman Erik Bottcher, D-Manhattan, who backed the deal after tenants at both complexes signed on.