A plan that would involve the transferring of air rights and the creation of 500 plus affordable apartments in East Tremont received a letter of support this week from Community Board 6.
Crotona Park North, a proposed affordable housing project, will be developed by Westchester LLC, Metro Futures LLC and Fulcrum Properties at 816 East 176th Street.
The site will consist of five parcels of land and the development team has control over the first four. The fifth piece is home to a garage facility owned by the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY). In order to maximize the footprint, they are proposing to lease or purchase a small part of the property that consists of a parking lot and a field that DSNY uses for storage.
In the 1980’s, the land was rezoned from residential to manufacturing. Therefore, the developer hopes to create a special zoning district that will allow the DSNY garage to remain in conformance, while allowing further development surrounding the site.
In addition to the rezoning, they would also like to purchase air rights from DSNY’s parcel and transfer them. If the city approves this, they plan to construct two 14-story mixed-use towers totaling approximately 440,000 square feet. There would be 420,000 square feet of residential space and 10,000 square feet for retail and community facility space.
If completed, Crotona Park North would not be the first affordable housing development to be built on this block. On the other side of the DSNY garage, there is a 36 unit supportive housing development built by VIP Community Services at 764 East 176th Street.
