Breaking ground on new Village affordable apts.
BY GABE HERMAN
Local offi cials and nonprofi ts
broke ground on Nov. 15 on a
development that will offer dozens
of affordable rental apartments in
the East Village.
The new building at 302 E. Second
St., between Avenues C and D, will be
called “East Village Homes,” and offer
100 percent affordable housing.
The project is part of the Housing
Preservation and Development’s
(HPD) Neighborhood Construction
Program, and will create 45 affordable
apartments.
Among the groups at the groundbreaking
was Asian Americans for
Equality (AAFE), a nonprofi t based in
Chinatown and the Lower East Side.
AAFE was selected by HPD in 2017 to
develop the new building, which will
have 14 stories and include apartments
for very low, low, and moderate-income
households. There will also be community
space on the ground fl oor.
“There is a clear need for affordable
housing across every neighborhood in
New York City,” said HPD Commissioner
Louise Carroll. “It is always fulfi
lling when we can break ground for
a new project in an area where land is
not often readily available.”
Others at the groundbreaking included
Council Members Carlina Rivera
and Margaret Chin, State Senator
Brian Kavanagh, members of Community
Board 3, and offi cials from NYC
Housing Development Corporation,
Enterprise Community Partners and
the Low Income Investment Fund.
“In the face of a rising citywide affordability
crisis, today we’re taking a
bold step in creating truly affordable
housing in our East Village and Lower
East Side neighborhoods,” said Chin. “I
am proud to have secured $800,000 in
Council funding to support this project
and provide more housing stability for
our most vulnerable neighbors.”
“Today we celebrate the kickoff of
a project that will bring desperately
needed affordable housing to the East
Village and Lower East Side, where
longtime residents are increasingly at
risk of displacement from a community
they have helped build,” said Thomas
Yu and Jennifer Sun, AAFE co-executive
directors, in a statement. “We
thank HPD and HDC for their faith in
AAFE to complete this exciting project,
to our elected offi cials for their strong
support and to our funding partners for
helping to make East Village Homes a
reality.”
The building will include 13 studios,
19 one-bedroom units, 12 two-bedroom
apartments and one apartment
for an on-site super. There will be a
shared roof terrace and sustainable elements
like high-effi ciency lighting and
water-conserving plumbing fi xtures.
“The Lower East Side is known for
COURTESY AAFE
The East Village Homes Groundbreaking on Nov. 15.
its decades of activism demanding tenants’
rights and programmatic and fi -
nancial support from government,” said
Rivera. “Therefore, it is fi tting that today,
in this neighborhood, we celebrate
an amazing partnership between New
York City and local non-profi t partners
that will result in the development of 45
affordable apartments for individuals
and families – many of these reserved
for AMIs area median income as low
as 20%.”
Construction is scheduled to fi nish
by December 2021. A second phase of
the East Village Homes project will be
at a separate site, at 276 E. Third St.,
and is expected to create 10 additional
affordable rental units.
Throwback lamps back in West Village
BY GABE HERMAN
A years-long effort to install classic
street lights in the West Village
has fi nally come to fruition
with the installation of several of them
along Seventh Avenue South.
A ribbon cutting on Nov. 20 was held
at McCarthy Square along Seventh Avenue
in front of one of the new street
lights, which are in the style of classic
Bishop Crook poles and have LED teardrop
fi xtures, according to the Department
of Transportation.
“This is a very exciting day that we’ve
been working toward for a long time,”
said Erik Bottcher, Council Speaker
Corey Johnson’s Chief of Staff, at the
event. He noted that the project was
part of Johnson’s broader goal to beautify
the area, including renovating every
park and fi lling all empty tree pits.
In the past, historic street lights on
Seventh Avenue had come up for a vote
in the district’s Participatory Budgeting,
but although it didn’t win funding,
Johnson continued to push for it, Bottcher
noted.
Local block associations and members
of Community Board 2 also
pushed for the street lights, Bottcher
said, and when there was a budget gap,
State Assemblymember Deborah Glick
stepped in to provide funding for lights
on West 13th Street.
Bottcher said he was glad the area
was moving away from the “cobra
head” lights — the standard street
lights in the city — and that Seventh
Avenue now looked less like a highway
and more like a Greenwich Village
street.
“It’s important for the people who
live here, but also people who visit here
from around the world.” He added,
“You can come here from anywhere
and know that you’re in Greenwich
Village.”
Glick said at the ceremony that efforts
for the classic streetlights had
probably gone on for 15 years or more,
and it was great to have the new lights
along a main avenue.
“We feel very proprietary about the
Village, as we should,” Glick said.
Most of the project’s 33 street lights
have been installed in recent weeks, according
to Ed Pincar, DOT’s Manhattan
Borough Commissioner. The posts
are on Seventh Avenue, from Perry to
Clarkson Streets, and on West 11th and
12th Streets between Sixth and Seventh
avenues. Several more will be installed
at a later date on West 13 Street,
between Seventh and Greenwich avenues.
Over $500,000 in funding has
gone into the project, Pincar said.
“No one can deny the benefi t and
great improvement that historic lighting
brings to the West Village,” Pincar
said.
Carl Stein, a resident of West 11
Street since 1971 who was there on
behalf of the street’s block association,
said it was great to be adding something
to the Village to leave it better for
future generations.
“It’s very nice for us, but it’s also nice
because the Village is such an important
element for people coming to New
York from outside,” Stein said. “It’s
great. It’s really a special thing to be
living here on so many levels.”
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
One of the new street lights at Seventh
Avenue South and Perry Street.
4 November 21, 2019 Schneps Media