A Who’s Who list of Manhattan officials wants the city Housing Authority to do some explaining about a controversial plan to lease public land for luxury apartments.
The 16 elected officials sent a letter to Mayor Bloomberg and NYCHA Chairman John Rhea Wednesday requesting a delay to imminent plans to seek developers for the upscale housing.
“Publicly owned land is a limited resource in New York City and once developed is unlikely to be redeveloped,” the letter states.
The letter was signed by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and a host of assembly, state senate and city councilors.
“We recognize the need for additional funds but you don’t want this to be something that happens in the dark of night,” said Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh (D-Manhattan), whose district includes two of the targeted developments.
NYCHA plans to lease out land on parking lots, parks and baseball diamonds within eight developments in hot real estate neighborhoods like the lower East Side, lower Manhattan, the upper West Side and East Harlem.
Eighty-percent of the apartments – about 3 million square feet – would rent at market rates, and NYCHA would use the money collected to repair its aging buildings.
The agency has shared few details about the size, nature and precise location of the new buildings with tenants, prompting fear and speculation.
At a recent tenant meeting at the Smith Houses in lower Manhattan, tenants railed against NYCHA’s plans to face the entrances to the upscale apartments away from the rest of the development.
NYCHA Chairman John Rhea recently said he planned to seek proposals from developers in mid-March, and promised to provide details to tenants in all the affected developments before then.
But the letter notes that as of Wednesday, only some tenant leaders and elected officials were told of the plan, and none were given specifics.
“The New York City Housing Authority has already conducted initial meetings with many of the signers of this letter and their staffs, and we will continue to share information with them and welcome their input,” NYCHA spokeswoman Sheila Stainback said in a statement issued late Thursday evening. “NYCHA is committed to fully engaging residents as we move this plan forward.”
