![\"NYCHA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9f1f4dd4-0bf7-4852-975e-7fae34cbd368-scaled.jpg\")
Victor Gotay, 60, vice president of the tenant association, has lived in one of NYCHA\u2019s WSUR brownstones his whole life. (Sunny Nagpaul\/City Limits)<\/p>\nNYCHA is moving ahead with plans to rehabilitate a unique cluster of Manhattan brownstones, many of which are afforded landmark protection status, by converting the apartments to private management. <\/p>\n
Victor Gotay, 60, vice president of the tenant association, has lived in one of NYCHA\u2019s WSUR brownstones his whole life. (Sunny Nagpaul\/City Limits)<\/p>\n
Victor Gotay, a 60-year-old Upper West Sider, has lived in a historic brownstone that operates as public housing for most of his life. He\u2019s also collected full-page photos documenting NYCHA buildings in his neighborhood, and the people who lived in them, through decades of change.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019s fascinated by the details of his lifelong neighborhood\u2019s past.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what children played in,\u201d Gotay said, pointing to a photo of children gathered together in a small, barren paved area, likely taken in the late 1950s. \u201cThis was a family living in one room,\u201d he said of another. Shuffling through the photos, he spotted a shot of the chocolate-fa\u00e7ade exterior of his building.<\/p>\n
His parents moved into the brownstone, tucked away on West 93rd Street between Amsterdam and Columbus avenues, just after his first birthday in 1967. It\u2019s one of a unique cluster of 36 buildings<\/a>, collectively called the WSUR Brownstones.<\/p>\n In those decades, the neighborhood was changing a lot: as urban planner Robert Moses famously spearheaded construction of now-famous city icons in the area, like Lincoln Center, and expanded universities, he also razed the Upper West Side\u2019s low-income neighborhoods,<\/a> displacing thousands of people<\/a> to make the space.<\/p>\n The brownstones were spared, having been part of a unique strategy of conservation<\/a> called the West Side Urban Renewal Area<\/a> project since the 1950s. Spearheaded by the city\u2019s planning commissioner in 1955, it arose as an alternative to Moses\u2019 slum clearing practices<\/a> in its model to preserve instead of demolish the neighborhood\u2019s housing stock. The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) was the first to develop housing in the area, ultimately taking over 36 brownstones, which at the time were subdivided into single room occupancy houses, and converting them into the 236 public housing units that still exist today.\u00a0<\/p>\n Decades later, Gotay still lives there\u2014now with his wife, and as his mother\u2019s caretaker. \u201cIt\u2019s funny because my life has really circled around the entire urban renewal process, if you will, that was installed by Robert Moses,\u201d he told City Limits.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, another big change is on the horizon.<\/p>\n NYCHA, the country\u2019s largest public housing system, is moving ahead with plans to partner with a private management company to rehabilitate 10 developments in Manhattan\u2019s Upper West Side, including the WSUR Brownstones<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many of the historic edifices, which represent nearly all the brownstones NYCHA owns, are also part of city-designated historic districts<\/a> between 89th and 93rd Streets on the Upper West Side, which are protected by strict landmark preservation regulations<\/a>.<\/p>\n The plans are part of a larger effort, called the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together<\/a> or PACT program, through which NYCHA taps private companies to manage buildings and converts the properties to a different federal housing program.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s one of the only ways, officials say, to access badly needed repair money, since Congress has underfunded traditional Section 9 public housing for decades.<\/p>\n Residents of the brownstones are well aware of their aging buildings\u2019 issues<\/a>: in 2019, some of them went without gas for nearly a year<\/a>, and ceilings in three tenants\u2019 apartments partially collapsed<\/a> in 2023.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As a baseline, the private partnership promises to finance a huge scope of work that includes renovated apartments and common areas plus new windows, heating and plumbing systems, according to a NYCHA spokesperson.<\/p>\n Despite those guarantees, residents are raising questions about who NYCHA is considering as private partners and whether they\u2019ll have a significant say in the selection. NYCHA\u2019s application deadline for interested partners passed in April, and residents still don\u2019t know which companies are in the running.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another longtime resident, Veronica Lopez, is uncertain if repairs and operations will go well under the new management. She\u2019s worried that residents will lose certain protections once they convert, despite assurances from NYCHA that PACT tenants retain the same rights they had before. \u201cWe\u2019re not seeing the longevity of what will happen afterwards,\u201d Lopez told City Limits.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n NYCHA\u2019s plan for the brownstones<\/p>\n Gotay, who\u2019s also the vice president of the brownstones\u2019 tenant association, shares a two-bedroom apartment with his wife and his 85-year-old mother. He said initially, NYCHA\u2019s partnership and rehabilitation plans \u201cwere rather appealing to residents who have been struggling for the last 40 years to get a basic repair.\u201d<\/p>\n Upcoming work on the brownstones is part of a broader initiative NYCHA calls the \u201cPACT Citywide Clusters\u201d Project<\/a>, which plans to rehabilitate 27 NYCHA developments across the city, representing over 5,000 units. The 36 brownstones, containing 236 units, are one of 10 developments in the project\u2019s Manhattan cluster.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seemed at the time to be encouraging,\u201d Gotay told City Limits. <\/p>\n His main concerns now, he said, are two-fold: he worries that NYCHA will select a private partner with a poor track record\u2014as some PACT tenants say has been the case<\/a> at other developments<\/a>\u2014and that residents will not have enough input in the selection process.\u00a0<\/p>\n At this stage, NYCHA is reviewing bids from potential development teams, who must clear its pre-qualifications<\/a> and be able to \u201cdemonstrate experience having successfully completed large-scale rehabilitation and\/or new construction projects,\u201d of at least 1,500 units, according to NYCHA\u2019s project overview.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe have not been privy to who is actually bidding as a property manager, contractors for this project. There has been no transparency,\u201d Gotay said. \u201cAnd we were promised to have a say in the selection process as well.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the housing authority says that will happen soon. This summer, NYCHA will ask teams that passed initial reviews to prepare final proposals, which will be shared with a group of resident leaders from each development, the housing authority\u2019s spokesperson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tenants will then, along with an independent facilitation team, interview potential management partners, and participate in a scoring exercise that will influence NYCHA\u2019s selection.\u00a0<\/p>\n Residents can expect the next meeting to communicate timelines in the fall, and NYCHA expects to select a management partner, or PACT partner, for the Manhattan project by early 2027, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n NYCHA\u2019s brownstone plans are part of a much bigger picture\u00a0<\/p>\n The rehabilitation plans are part of NYCHA\u2019s much larger ongoing effort to shift operations at thousands of its developments into the hands of private management companies<\/a>, in order to qualify for additional federal funding, which the critically under-funded housing authority needs to address its $78 billion repairs backlog.<\/p>\n When NYCHA forms a partnership with a private company, the development converts its funding from the Section 9 program to another federal program called Section 8, which comes with a higher government subsidy.<\/a><\/p>\n So far, NYCHA has converted more than 31,000<\/a> of its apartments to Section 8 under PACT, which was launched in 2016<\/a> during former Mayor Bill de Blasio\u2019s administration with a goal to convert 62,000 units over 10 years.<\/p>\n So far, 119 developments have entered PACT partnerships, and raised over <\/a>$10.3 billion for repairs and renovations, according to NYCHA. The repairs have been sizable, including all new apartments (where walls and floors are removed and reinstalled to remediate mold and asbestos), windows and floors in common areas, and upgraded building systems. Converted developments have also received renovated court yards <\/a>and playgrounds.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018We\u2019re afraid of being afraid\u2019: Residents worry about miscommunications\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition to which management company will take over, tenants also don\u2019t know if they will have to leave their homes during construction\u2014and if they do, where they would go, and for how long. The uncertainty, Gotay said, is a source of fear for some.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re afraid of being afraid,\u201d Gotay said, adding that historic miscommunications and slow, inadequate repairs by NYCHA make many residents skeptical to trust the solution on the table. \u201cThere is no bright light shining at the end of this tunnel, giving us this hope that things will go well.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement to City Limits, a NYCHA spokesperson said \u201cwe will rely on input from residents to guide PACT partner selection, scope of work, and plans for property management and social services.\u201d<\/p>\n Another longtime resident, Cynthia Tibbs, who is the tenant association president of the 36 buildings, worries that the promises will fall through.\u00a0<\/p>\n Communications with NYCHA\u2019s real estate team so far, she said, \u201chave not gone well.\u201d In a meeting with NYCHA officials in May, she recalled an incident when one of the management teams hoping to take on operations at the developments sent interns, incorrectly described to her as architects\u2014and she later found them playing with toys leftover from an event in one of the community rooms.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was told that it was architects coming up to survey the buildings,\u201d she said, according to a transcript of the meeting shared with City Limits. \u201cThen I find out later that they\u2019re not, they were just looking around and playing with my toys.\u201d<\/p>\n NYCHA\u2019s real estate team apologized for the miscommunication. \u201cThey were very unprofessional,\u201d Tibbs told City Limits.\u00a0<\/p>\n The uncertainty about who could be taking over and when, she said, is a source of stress as she prepares to relocate during the anticipated rehabilitation.\u00a0<\/p>\n A NYCHA spokesperson told City Limits that while no decisions have been made yet, temporary moves will likely be required for most or all residents because of the nature of expected repairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a typical situation, the spokesperson said, residents are placed in open units either within their own developments or nearby during construction, and sign agreements that guarantee their right to return to their unit once renovations are complete. Moving expenses are covered by the PACT partner.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some brownstones are landmark protected, but not all<\/p>\n Of the 36 WSUR Brownstones, 26 buildings are within a city-designated historic district, which affords certain protections including \u201cdemolition by neglect,\u201d which requires the buildings to be kept in good repair, and other design standards set by the city\u2019s Landmark Preservation Commission. The building Gotay grew up in isn\u2019t part of those protected.<\/p>\n A NYCHA spokesperson told City Limits that it doesn\u2019t anticipate drastic rehabilitation differences between the buildings within and outside of the historic district, but will respond to each building\u2019s unique needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t lose sleep over this, worrying about the wrecking ball coming,\u201d Gotay told City Limits. His priority, he said, is ensuring his 85-year-old mother can manage the changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n She moved into the home three years after getting married in 1964, he said, and has lived there ever since. \u201cMy mother has outlived my father by 34 years, and she never remarried,\u201d Gotay said. \u201cAs we say, his spirit is very much alive in the apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n While he\u2019s skeptical of the project, he also understands that it could unlock direly needed resources for people, especially those who live in decrepit apartments.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have certain residents who are very much eager that this program kicks off because they feel it\u2019s going to be an answer to all of their problems,\u201d Gotay said. \u201cMaybe once this program is instituted, it does work out for the better for some individuals. It may not work for all.\u201d<\/p>\n To reach the reporter behind this story, contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. To reach the editor, contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n![\"West](\"https:\/\/citylimits.org\/wp-content\/plugins\/trx_addons\/components\/lazy-load\/images\/placeholder.png\")
NYCHA\u2019s WSUR Brownstones on West 93rd Street on the Upper West Side, pictured here in 2024. (Adi Talwar\/City Limits)<\/p>\nNYCHA\u2019s WSUR Brownstones along West 90th Street. (Adi Talwar\/City Limits)<\/p>\nNYCHA\u2019s WSUR Brownstones along West 91st Street, pictured here in 2024. (Adi Talwar\/City Limits)<\/p>\nNYCHA\u2019s WSUR Brownstones Tenants Association during a June meeting to discuss the PACT conversions. (Adi Talwar\/City Limits)<\/p>\nCynthia Tibbs, president of the tenants association, with Victor Gotay, vice president, and Mark Thomas, sergeant\u2011at\u2011arms, at a meeting in June. (Adi Talwar\/City Limits)<\/p>\n