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<\/p>\nThe New York City Economic Development Corp. is releasing a new request for proposals from developers to build a mixed-use housing development\u00a0on a vacant city-owned lot in\u00a0Harlem, Bisnow can first report.<\/p>\n
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\n Courtesy of the New York City Economic Development Corp.\n <\/p>\n
\n An aerial sketch of the East Harlem properties that have been redeveloped since the 2008 rezoning and the three sites that the NYCEDC hopes to develop in the coming years\n <\/p>\n
The RFP, obtained by Bisnow,\u00a0reveals new\u00a0details about plans announced by the EDC in April<\/a>\u00a0for the half-block parking lot in\u00a0East Harlem<\/a>\u00a0at 2453 Second Ave., referred to as the \u201cB-East\u201d site.<\/p>\n Developers must use the\u00a0485-x<\/a>\u00a0tax abatement to create a 140-unit housing development with ground-floor retail space at the site, meaning that\u00a0a quarter of the housing units must be set aside as\u00a0permanently affordable. Half of those units should have two or more bedrooms, according to the RFP.<\/p>\n Additionally, proposals should contain plans for 10K SF of ground-floor retail that should go to a local business such as childcare providers, artist studio or rehearsal space, or small-business incubators.<\/p>\n Proposals should be submitted by Oct. 20 and should confirm that they don’t require a rezoning. The NYCEDC<\/a> Real Estate Committee and its board of directors will approve the final winner.\u00a0<\/p>\n Using the\u00a0485-x tax break will also require developers to comply with the abatement\u2019s wage requirements<\/a> of $42 an hour for construction workers. At least 30% of the winning bid\u2019s team should comprise a minority- or woman-owned business.<\/p>\n Because developers are receiving the land for free, the city expects the winner to foot the bill for the affordable units themselves under a cross-subsidy model\u00a0first reported by\u00a0Bisnow<\/a>.<\/p>\n The cross-subsidy model is expected to speed up construction timelines. With free land as the subsidy \u2014 rather than funds from city agencies, which can take up to 10 years to approve \u2014 developers can\u00a0source\u00a0private financing and break ground more quickly.<\/p>\n The site is one of three still-undeveloped plots of city-owned land that were part of a\u00a02008 rezoning\u00a0championed by\u00a0then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg<\/a>\u00a0to create housing and stimulate economic development in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n