Harlem residents fight affordable housing project that would displace healthcare center

The Heritage Health Care Center, a horseshoe-shaped building that sits on the corner of 145th Street and Amsterdam in Harlem, has seen better days.

Its brick exterior is surrounded by scaffolding and a chain-link fence. On a recent afternoon, a security guard stood at the front door, turning away patients because the building’s air conditioning had gone out.

But a group of residents and local politicians have sued to block a city-approved plan to tear down the clinic and build affordable apartments.

“ We should be involved in the process of disposing a city-owned site like this, one that’s been a vital part of our community for over 50 years, providing amazing healthcare services,” said Alexa Donaphin, a longtime patient who’s part of the lawsuit filed late last month in Manhattan Supreme Court.

The neighborhood has a history of community opposition to large housing projects. Residents say the current fight is not a case of NIMBYism, but rather an effort to preserve a healthcare center that serves low-income and uninsured patients.

Heritage Health was founded in the late 1960s by community activists concerned about a lack of access to healthcare in Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood.

Today, the Amsterdam Avenue clinic serves about 7,000 patients a year. Court records show nearly 60% of Heritage’s patients are eligible for Medicaid and about 10% are uninsured.

In 2023, the city identified the site as one that could “unlock badly needed housing.” The project was fast-tracked as a distressed property.

The current plans call for demolishing the Heritage clinic and a neighboring community mental health center and building a 200-unit apartment building called Hill Top. According to BRC, the project’s developer, 120 units would be for supportive housing with wraparound services and 80 would be affordable units rented through the city’s Housing Connect lottery system.

Hill Top would have space for the smaller mental health center. But the Heritage clinic would be permanently displaced.

While Heritage owns a residential property two blocks down the street, the organization has said in court documents that it lacks the financing to convert the building into medical offices. Even with funding, Heritage said the relocation could take two years.

Donaphin said that when she learned of the plans, she felt “shock and disappointment.”

“ It was sort of surreptitiously developed,” she said. “By the time we heard about it, their plans were already developed.”

Community Board 9, the local community board, voted to oppose the project.

“We’ve had community board meetings that have been very well-attended, and yet no one wants to seemingly hear what we’re asking for,” Donaphin said. “Why won’t our leaders listen to us?”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and members of his administration have defended the project and the public process.

“ It is critically important that we build more housing across New York City,” Mamdani said at an unrelated press conference earlier this month.

Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg said the project went through a multi-year community engagement process.

“ There is a shared goal of continuing the healthcare services that the neighborhood needs, while also building this much-needed 100% affordable project that has been long in the making,” Bozorg said. “We’ll of course continue to work with the community and now through the litigation process as well.”

The project has divided the neighborhood’s politicians. City Council Majority Leader Shaun Abreu supports it, as well as City Comptroller Mark Levine. State Sen. Cordell Cleare, Assemblymember Al Taylor and Assemblymember Jordan Wright have joined the lawsuit against it.

Hill Top is not the first large housing development to face community opposition in Harlem. A proposed 915-unit project called One45 was shot down by a local city councilmember three years ago over concerns that it didn’t include enough affordable units.

Many viewed the outcome as a Pyrrhic victory. The site is now a truck depot.

But those suing to block the Hill Top project say their opposition is about preserving healthcare, not blocking housing.

“Do what you can with this building, whether that means demolishing it or anything else,” said Andrés Orejuela, a local high school teacher who’s signed onto the lawsuit. “But make sure that the health services remain a part of the community where they’ve been for 50 years.”

The plaintiffs say they’d support a plan for a larger building that includes space for the Heritage clinic and affordable units.

“ I don’t see why there’s a choice between healthcare and housing,” said Orejuela. “We want both of them.”

Amin Shabazz, 69, was one of those turned away from his appointment last week when the building’s AC was broken. But he said he doesn’t want to lose access to the clinic for good.

“ We do need affordable housing, I kid you not,” Shabazz said. “But I think in the sequence of priorities, I think our healthcare is much more concerning, you know what I’m saying?”