Tearing down public housing has become something of a national trend, except in New York, where the New York City Housing Authority has held onto its stock of aging buildings even as repair bills and tenant complaints mount.
But that may be changing.
NYCHA is set to announce on Wednesday that it is moving forward with a $1.5 billion plan to tear down the Fulton Houses and Elliott-Chelsea Houses in Manhattan and replace them with new high-rise apartments for the residents who live there, after it became clear that replacing the deteriorating buildings would cost about as much as rehabilitating them.
At Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea, more than 2,000 public housing apartments would be replaced. The new apartments would have dishwashers, washers and dryers, and access to rooftop terraces. The plan also calls for the construction of new retail and commercial spaces and 3,500 mixed-income apartments, with around 1,000 restricted to people earning lower incomes and the rest renting at market rates.
It would be only the third tear-down in the agency’s nearly 90-year history, and the first time new, mixed-income buildings would be built on NYCHA land. City officials said they hope to replicate the plan elsewhere as conditions in public housing worsen.
“You’ve never heard of brand new public housing,” said Miguel Acevedo, president of the tenant association at the Fulton Houses who has lived in the development since the 1960s and supports the plan. “It just doesn’t exist. To create this for the next generation is really unbelievable.”
Many developers have eyed the open spaces on NYCHA campuses, which are scattered throughout the boroughs, as prime spots for new development, even as similar pushes have generated opposition.
The idea that demolition is viable reflects the severity of the conditions in the developments, where residents regularly encounter leaks, mold, broken elevators and heating problems. NYCHA estimates it needs to do about $40 billion worth of repairs across the system.
The construction at Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea will be handled by two private developers, Essence Development and the real estate giant Related Companies, who were chosen by tenant leaders and NYCHA in December 2021. The project is part of NYCHA’s contentious push to place more developments under private management, allowing the agency to tap into a special source of federal funds and borrow money for upgrades.
The developers and NYCHA said they felt confident about moving forward at Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea after residents who responded to a weekslong survey indicated they preferred the demolition and rebuild option over rehabilitation. Roughly 30 percent of eligible residents, or roughly 950 people, responded to the survey, and about 60 percent of those opted for demolition.
“No one knows better than the residents what they and their neighbors need, and they were smart to recognize the potential benefits of completely rebuilding their campus,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.
NYCHA hopes to deploy a similar strategy — including talking with residents and helping them decide on the future of their homes — at other developments in the city.
“If you do this all over the city, we’ll be able to provide significantly more affordable housing,” said Jonathan Gouveia, NYCHA’s executive vice president for real estate development.
But past attempts at rebuilding have not been as well received. City officials in 2019 walked away from an effort to demolish two of Fulton’s buildings and replace them with mixed-income homes after residents and activists staged protests against the plan.
But Jamar Adams, the managing principal at Essence who said he spent part of his childhood in public housing, said one key was making sure the new buildings would be finished before the old ones were replaced so residents would know they had a place to move to. He said despite the opposition in 2019, trying to better communicate with residents about the plan and how it addressed their problems helped many change their minds.
“Residents went from justified skepticism of demolition to embracing a transformational plan that will build homes they deserve,” he said.
The project is particularly attractive to developers and the city because Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea are in one of the hottest real estate markets in Manhattan, close to Hudson Yards and the High Line.
Some residents do not trust the plan and are still skeptical about NYCHA’s approach to repairs. Vera Naseva has lived in the Elliott-Chelsea development for four years and opposes its redevelopment. “They just want to take us out,” she said.
The project must go through a lengthy land-use review process, which is slated to begin next year, and must ultimately be approved by City Council. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development must also give its approval, though NYCHA officials said they were optimistic.
Developers said they would build most of the new NYCHA buildings first so the majority of residents would be able to move in before their old homes were torn down. The construction is expected to be finished in six years.