BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC | A new 10-unit building at 92 Fulton St. between Williams St. and Gold St. in the Financial District will be 100 percent affordable housing — and will be permanently so.
The news was received with clapping and an audible “yay” at Community Board 1’s Planning Committee meeting Sept. 8.
The building will be zoned with very specific requirements in regards to size, distribution of the units and incomes, said Ken Lowenstein, lawyer for the building developer, the Fisher Organization.
The site, now a vacant lot, will have a 17-story building with one three-bedroom, six two-bedrooms, one one-bedroom, and two studio units available. It will have community, laundry and bike rooms.
The incomes and rents depend on the size of the units and the number of the persons in the household, said Lowenstein. Rent may range from $833 to $1,460. The city Dept. of Housing Preservation and Development sets these rents, he said.
The units, Lowenstein said, are sizable and larger than the minimum standards for affordable units. The minimum for a two-bedroom, for example, is 775 sq. ft. A two-bedroom at 92 Fulton St. will be anywhere from 820 to 1,020 sq. ft.
These ten affordable units will be part of 158 units projected to be added in Community Board 1 in the next five years, said Julien-Pierre A. Schmitz, who researched housing in the district for a report for C.B. 1.
There are 933 affordable units in the district, he said at the meeting. Out of those, 194 units are in danger of becoming market rate, many in Battery Park City, including 70 Battery Place, 400 Chambers St. and 41 River Terrace. All of these buildings are up for sale, said Schmitz.
Schmitz also said there are 6,817 rent-stabilized units in the district.
The architect of the building, Mark Ginsberg, with Curtis+Ginsberg, said that the front will be a combination of two colors of metal panels. The panels will wrap around the side and then a stucco material takes over and will be used around the side and the back. He said that the building will have a very small footprint.
H.P.D. will supervise the lottery and Community Board 1 residents will get preference for 50 percent of the units.
“H.P.D. has a very elaborate process to guarantee that these units are rented fairly and equitably,” said Lowenstein.
A not-for-profit will confirm and verify the lottery, said Lowenstein, to make sure “everything’s kosher.”
After adding amendments, which included that C.B.1 will be notified when the lottery will take place, the resolution recommending approval for the developer’s inclusionary housing program application was passed. If Fisher is approved for the program, the developer will be able to build a larger building and apply for tax breaks.
The Financial District Committee also passed a resolution for a zoning waiver to construct and both will be voted on at the upcoming monthly C.B. 1 meeting on Sept. 23.
