{"id":352276,"date":"2026-09-21T09:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T09:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/352276\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T09:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T09:59:09","slug":"nycha-moves-to-oust-die-hards-from-manhattan-building-slated-for-destruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/352276\/","title":{"rendered":"NYCHA Moves to Oust Die-Hards from Manhattan Building Slated for Destruction"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York City Housing Authority<\/a> has sent lease termination notices to a handful of public housing tenants who are refusing to relocate to make way for a $1.2 billion project to demolish and rebuild some deteriorating buildings<\/a> in Manhattan\u2019s Chelsea neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Working with private sector developers, the Housing Authority plans to take down 18 buildings in three developments \u2014 the Fulton, Elliott and Chelsea Houses \u2014 and replace them with six towers that will house the 2,056 tenants who live there now. Nine more buildings will be built at the site that will include 1,000 permanently affordable units and another 2,500 market-rate apartments NYCHA says make the project financially feasible.<\/p>\n

To pull off this transformation, NYCHA is requiring tenants at two of the buildings set for demolition first \u2014 one of the Fulton Houses buildings, known as Fulton 11, and a seniors-only development called Chelsea Addition \u2014 to relocate until the demolition and rebuilding of the first new tower is complete. That is expected to take three years.<\/p>\n

MORE: He Survived Japanese Occupation and Mao\u2019s Cultural Revolution. At 93, He\u2019s Fighting NYCHA.<\/a><\/p>\n

As of this week, 73 households in the targeted buildings have already relocated to other buildings within the three developments, but a handful in both Fulton 11 and Chelsea Addition have vowed to stay put amid a bitter legal battle.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago the Housing Authority began notifying holdouts that officials have started the process of terminating their leases through an internal system that doesn\u2019t include an independent court.<\/p>\n

\"NYCHANYCHA officials planned to move residents out of 419 W. 19th St. as part of the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses redevelopment, Sept. 16, 2026. Credit: Ben Fractenberg\/The City Reporter<\/p>\n

One of the six households has since acquiesced and agreed to move. Another tenant has unrelated issues involving alleged nonpayment of back rent. But four households are now facing eviction simply on the grounds of \u201cfailure to transfer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you relocate, that charge against your tenancy will be withdrawn,\u201d the letter reads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Twenty-four households at Chelsea Addition have sued<\/a>, alleging the Housing Authority is employing harassment to force them to move out of a seniors-only building into a less secure development that isn\u2019t dedicated to seniors. Their cases are currently pending in housing court.<\/p>\n

In response to questions, NYCHA spokesperson Matthew Horgan said all of the Fulton 11 tenants were \u201coffered at least two different temporary apartments that fit their household\u2019s needs.\u201d Five of the six were offered units within other Fulton buildings, while one was offered an apartment in nearby Elliott-Chelsea.<\/p>\n

MORE: Follow The City Reporter\u2019s Coverage of the New York City Housing Authority<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThese households have been offered new apartments in the community but have failed to relocate, which is a breach of the rules in their leases. That is what triggered these notices,\u201d Horgan said.<\/p>\n

One of the families that got a termination letter has lived at Fulton 11 since the 1960s. Jonathan Santiago, 37, who described himself as a third-generation Fulton resident, lives there with his mother, Lourdes Ortiz, 61, who grew up and met her husband there. His father\u2019s family had lived in another Fulton building for years.<\/p>\n

Santiago\u2019s mother, who is listed as the tenant of record, received a notice telling her she had to relocate within 30 days in the fall of 2025. That was followed by a 60-day notice, then a final 90-day notice that required the household to move to another Fulton Houses apartment by mid-October.<\/p>\n

The Related Companies and its partner Essence Development, who are constructing the new buildings and will run the properties for NYCHA, brought in another firm, Housing Opportunities Unlimited, to persuade tenants to relocate. The group twice showed Santiago and his mother other apartments nearby in the Fulton Houses.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first my mother wasn\u2019t sure what to do. I wasn\u2019t too sure what to do. I didn\u2019t know what was going to happen. I was willing to go with the flow,\u201d Santiago recalled.<\/p>\n

But he said he heard from other Fulton tenants that the relocation units they had been shown were recently renovated and were already falling apart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Santiago complained he had received conflicting information about whether his current building was slated to be demolished at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the turning point,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was too much lies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enter the Activists<\/p>\n

Santiago then encountered the Save Chelsea Public Housing Coalition, a group that includes some Fulton tenants and several outside housing advocacy organizations. Their message was straightforward: Stop the demolition\/rebuild project from going forward at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found there were people who don\u2019t want the buildings to be demolished. I said, \u2018Let me see what this group of people are talking about,’\u201d Santiago said.<\/p>\n

The coalition is demanding the cash-strapped Housing Authority simply pay for all needed upgrades and repairs at the three developments, but NYCHA contends they don\u2019t have the money to do that.<\/p>\n

The authority says it needs $78 billion over the next 20 years to bring its entire aging portfolio of buildings up to par and the public-private arrangement at the Chelsea developments is essential.<\/p>\n

The developers plan to build new public housing there in exchange for erecting market-rate units on Housing Authority-owned land in Chelsea\u2019s hot real estate market. Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> has thrown his support behind the demolition\/rebuild project as well.<\/p>\n

\"90-year-oldQiong Zhong, 90, and her 93-year-old husband Jin Tao Wu would be forced out of their apartment in Chelsea Addition under NYCHA\u2019s plan to rebuild the complex, April 20, 2026. Credit: Greg Smith\/THE CITY<\/p>\n

NYCHA officials also insist they have sought and obtained support from most residents in the Fulton, Chelsea and Elliott Houses, including in the Fulton 11 and Chelsea Addition buildings. But coalition member Marni Halasa says the authority\u2019s new tactic to terminate leases runs contrary to its claims of partnership with residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, the administration, NYCHA and its real estate partners have wrapped this project in the language of choice, partnership and resident empowerment,\u201d she said. \u201cA \u2018notice of termination\u2019 tells a totally different story. Tenant consent is now being coerced through the brutality of court proceedings against law-abiding residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unless the four Fulton 11 holdouts agree to relocate, their lease termination proceedings are set to go before a NYCHA hearing officer beginning next month.<\/p>\n

Thomas Hillgardner, an attorney who is representing both the Fulton 11 and Chelsea Addition holdouts, said: \u201cWe\u2019re going to [contest] these lease terminations vigorously. We do not believe that NYCHA is asking these people to move for any lawful purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

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