The moment has finally arrived. Fifty years after hundreds of homes were demolished in the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA), the first affordable apartments are becoming available on the site.
At midnight last night (Thursday, March 2), the housing lottery for site 5 of Essex Crossing, as SPURA is now known, went live on the city’s housing website.
Out of 211 rental apartments in the building, 104 will be available to individuals and families who qualify for NYC’s affordable housing programs. All of the particulars are online and in the documents posted at the end of this story, but here are the basics:
- There are 6 units for applicants earning 40% of Area Median Income ($19,680-42,040)
- There are 53 units for applicants earning 60% of AMI ($30,069-63.060)
- There are 17 units for applicants earning 120% of AMI ($49,338-126,120)
- There are 28 units for applicants earning 165% of AMI ($69,326-173,415)
Apartments include studios, plus 1, 2 and 3-bedroom units. The 15-story building at 145 Clinton St. will also house a 30,000 square foot Trader Joe’s, a Planet Fitness and other commercial businesses. A publicly accessible park will be located on the north side of the building (bordering Broome Street). Building amenities include a part-time lobby attendant, on-site superintendent, communal terraces, a fitness room, a yoga room, a children’s playroom, bicycle storage, a dog-wash room, and a resident lounge.
Residents of Community District 3 will receive a preference for 50 percent of the affordable units. Former site tenants of the Seward Park Extension Urban Renewal Area (SPEURA) will receive an additional priority for the units (see the information sheet at the end of this post for more details about qualifying as a former site tenant).
To apply online, go to nyc.gov/housingconnect. You can also access the Essex Crossing/Site 5 page directly here. To request an application by mail, send a self- addressed envelope to: Essex Crossing Site 5 / Triborough Finance New Station, PO Box 2011, New York, NY 10035-9997. Applications must be postmarked or submitted online no later than May 2, 2017.
There is an upcoming community information session for affordable housing at Essex Crossing. It will be held Monday, March 6, 6:30-8 p.m. at Seward Park High School, 350 Grand St. The meeting will be hosted by Delancey Street Associates, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and Housing Development Corporation (HDC). NO APPLICATIONS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE MEETING.
Essex Crossing includes 1,078 apartments, 561 (or 52%) of them affordable. Affordable housing lotteries for three other buildings in phase one of the project will take place later this year. The first buildings are scheduled to open in 2018. Essex Crossing is being built by BFC Partners, L+M Development Partners, and Taconic Investment Partners.
