Holmes Towers

City withdraws plan for mixed-income tower proposed for Upper East Side playground

Previous rendering of the original project; Via NYCHA

June 17, 2019

City withdraws plan for mixed-income tower proposed for Upper East Side playground

The New York City Housing Authority has ditched plans to build a private 47-story apartment building on top of a playground on the Upper East Side, agency officials said Friday. The original plan called for a 300-unit tower to replace the playground at the Holmes Tower public housing complex with half of the units affordable and the other half at market-rate, the latter meant to raise funds for repairs at the tower. The new plan for the site will increase the number of market-rate apartments in order to collect more money, NYCHA officials told THE CITY.
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Affordable Housing

Three NYCHA developments on the Upper East Side ranked among the worst in the U.S.

Google Street View of the Holmes Towers

September 11, 2018

Three NYCHA developments on the Upper East Side ranked among the worst in the U.S.

By Devin Gannon

The federal government ranked three Upper East Side public housing buildings as some of the worst in the United States, the New York Post reported Monday. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) gave the Holmes Towers, the Isaacs Houses and Robbins Plaza just 25 points out of a maximum of 100 as a measure of quality following recent inspections. Out of the more than 3,800 scores counted by HUD last year, the three complexes tied for 13th worst in the country.
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Affordable Housing

Renderings revealed for controversial mixed-income tower on top of UES playground

Rendering via NYCHA

May 19, 2017

Renderings revealed for controversial mixed-income tower on top of UES playground

By Devin Gannon

After over a year-long debate, the city has finally unveiled renderings of a mixed-income tower set to rise on an existing playground at the Holmes Towers public housing complex in Yorkville. The New York City Housing Authority’s plan, which falls under the city’s NextGen program, will construct a 47-story building among the complex on East 93rd Street, as well as a new 18,000-square-foot recreation and community center run by Asphalt Green (h/t DNA Info). The new building will feature 300 total units, with half of them at market-rate prices and half of them affordable. However, an alleged plan to separate the floors by income level, as well as the fact that high-end housing is coming to a low-income site where the community wasn't consulted, has sparked a good deal of controversy.
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UES residents not happy about plan to turn their playground into high-end housing

Google Street View of the Holmes Towers with the playground in question in the foreground

September 19, 2016

UES residents not happy about plan to turn their playground into high-end housing

By Dana Schulz

This past spring, the de Blasio administration revealed plans to lease "empty" NYCHA land--parking lots and grassy areas--for the creation of market-rate housing, which certainly ruffled the feathers of affordable housing advocates. Though the proposal hasn't been set into motion city-wide, it is taking shape at one housing project on the Upper East Side, the Holmes Towers on 92nd to 93rd Streets and 1st to York Avenues. As the Daily News reports, NYCHA recently "described tenant support for the plan to let a developer build 300 units — half market rate, half affordable — where the Holmes playground now sits." But this "tenant stakeholder committee" says they feel very differently.
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Holmes Towers

City withdraws plan for mixed-income tower proposed for Upper East Side playground

Three NYCHA developments on the Upper East Side ranked among the worst in the U.S.

Renderings revealed for controversial mixed-income tower on top of UES playground

UES residents not happy about plan to turn their playground into high-end housing

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