HPD eyes Inwood parking lot for 570 affordable apartments as part of mayor’s new housing plan
- The vacant lot at 4095 Ninth Ave. would also be transformed into greenspace and a STEM facility
- HPD seeks community input on the plan ahead of soliciting development proposals
The Inwood proposal is part of the mayor's goal of creating or preserving 12,000 affordable units.
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New York City’s Housing Preservation & Development department wants to turn a parking lot in Inwood, Manhattan into roughly 570 affordable apartments, part of Mayor Eric Adams’s administration’s push to spur housing construction on publicly-owned land.
Adams announced plans to speed up the development of 24 new, affordable housing projects this year to meet his administration's goal of creating or preserving 12,000 affordable units. To kick things off, HPD plans to turn the city-owned parking lot at 4095 Ninth Ave. into affordable apartments, a waterfront greenspace, and a science facility.
“We're doing everything within our control to deliver housing and relief to New Yorkers when they need it most,” Adams said in a statement. “Investments like the Inwood waterfront project, once again, deliver on the vision we laid out to protect public safety, rebuild our economy, and make this city more livable for working-class New Yorkers.”
Initial plans for Inwood
Any development on the lot between 218th and 220th streets would need to be affordable for residents making up to 130 percent of the area median income—or $146,900 for a two-person household—and include units set-aside for formerly homeless households, according to HPD.
The apartments could be sales, rentals, or a combination of the two, and the developer must set aside 20 percent of units for local residents under current HPD policy. (That proportion used to be higher, but the city agreed earlier this month to cut down its set-aside units to settle a lawsuit.)
HPD also plans to build a science, technology, engineering, and math (or STEM)-focused community center on the 93,737-square-foot site, in addition to housing and waterfront space.
The vacant lot sits in a part of Inwood that was rezoned in 2018 to accommodate larger developments. As part of the controversial rezoning, the city promised to create or preserve 4,100 affordable apartments by 2032 and invest around $200 million in the neighborhood, in response to concerns that increased development would make the Northern Manhattan enclave unaffordable.
HPD’s plan for the Ninth Avenue lot is still in its early stages, and it could be years before residents could move in. The department invited community members to share their thoughts on the plan online, after which HPD will issue a request for proposals before selecting a developer.
Adams’s larger plan to tackle housing
Inwood isn’t the only neighborhood the Adams administration is eyeing as part of its 2024 housing initiative. Other sites could include 388 Hudson St. in Lower Manhattan, Hunters Point South in Long Island City in Queens, 155 East 173rd St. in the Bronx, and a spot in Staten Island’s North Shore, City Limits reported.
Adams also announced additional plans last week to help renters in the near term as he hopes to spur new development. Adams intends to reopen the New York City Housing Authority’s Section 8 voucher waiting list to new applications for the first time in 15 years and to create a tenant protection cabinet to help New Yorkers facing landlord harassment.
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