The city wants to tear down the Bloomingdale Library and a Department of Health building on West 100th Street on the Upper West Side — rebuilding the site into a new library, a clinic and roughly 850 apartments above them.
“City-owned property should not be handed over to developers to decide on affordable housing. All of these apartments should be 100% affordable,” resident Patricia Loftman said.
What You Need To Know
Officials say market-rate rents would help fund affordable apartments, the new library and a rebuilt health department facility
At Wednesday night’s Community Board 7 meeting, neighbors questioned the city’s plan to mix market-rate and affordable units on public land
The city calls it part of a broader plan to build 10,000 homes on public property “living libraries” with housing on top
At Wednesday night’s Community Board 7 meeting, neighbors questioned the city’s plan to mix market-rate and affordable units on public land.
“We had a big renovation of the library just, maybe, three years ago. [It] cost about $3 to $4 million, and our current library is now brand-new and beautiful,” neighbor Diane Lichtman said.
The city calls it part of a broader plan to build 10,000 homes on public property “living libraries” with housing on top.
But neighbors worry the construction could upend their block.
“You lose a lot of sleep when you have construction next to you. This is going to be five years of construction,” neighbor Diane Lichtman said.
Officials say market-rate rents would help fund affordable apartments, the new library and a rebuilt health department facility.
“We’re going to petition for 100% affordable housing at the library site,” neighbor Joan Strasbaugh said.
In a statement, the Economic Development Corporation said, “New York City is in the throes of a decades-long housing affordability crisis due to stagnant growth. The only way out of that crisis is to build more housing.”
Two citywide ballot proposals this fall could fast-track housing projects and limit community board input, like at Wednesday’s meeting.
For now, the meeting aims to outline a list of priorities they want built into the plan before the city issues its request for proposals later this year.