In the 1990's most cities in the U.S. started to remove troubled massive housing projects off of their city plan but New York City has been slow in following this trend. Chicago alone leveled 79 housing projects in all. The replacements would be low rise buildings built around a community block system that many of the same projects erased in the middle of the 20th century. The New York Times reports that the 12-15 story housing project in Brownsville Brooklyn called Prospect Plaza will be demolished and this will be a first for a city that is usually ahead of nationwide trends. These particular buildings were abandoned in 2003 and tenants were promised newly renovated apartments but the upgrades never happened. On adjacent abandoned lots, four story town homes have already been built as affordable rentals and a new apartment building will be built once the existing structures are razed. Former tenants who have been placed in other house projects in Brooklyn are told that they will have first selection in the new complex (lower photo from
www.nyhomes.org). Will this be a new start for Urban Renewal ravaged parts of the city such as East Harlem? Read more about it in the NY Times:
LINK. Photo of Prospect Plaza courtesy of skyscrapercity.com.
In the 1990's most cities in the U.S. started to remove troubled massive housing projects off of their city plan but New York City has been slow in following this trend. Chicago alone leveled 79 housing projects in all. The replacements would be low rise buildings built around a community block system that many of the same projects erased in the middle of the 20th century. The New York Times reports that the 12-15 story housing project in Brownsville Brooklyn called Prospect Plaza will be demolished and this will be a first for a city that is usually ahead of nationwide trends. These particular buildings were abandoned in 2003 and tenants were promised newly renovated apartments but the upgrades never happened. On adjacent abandoned lots, four story town homes have already been built as affordable rentals and a new apartment building will be built once the existing structures are razed. Former tenants who have been placed in other house projects in Brooklyn are told that they will have first selection in the new complex (lower photo from www.nyhomes.org). Will this be a new start for Urban Renewal ravaged parts of the city such as East Harlem? Read more about it in the NY Times: LINK. Photo of Prospect Plaza courtesy of skyscrapercity.com.
They should start a "projects renewal" program in the city and bring in jobs with this concept. More construction jobs but making neighborhoods truly better laid out.
ReplyDeleteIt would also help a lot of they used in-fill development techniques to try to fix some of the errors stemming from the "towers in the park" approach. For example, I would imagine ground-level retail could be built into the "dead" space around the Charles Hill Tower on 8th Ave between 111th and 112th.
ReplyDeleteAnd presumably the cash flow from commercial leasing could help to plug some of the NYCHA budget gap.