City Taps JV for $1.1B LES Redevelopment

NEW YORK CITY-A $1.1-billion joint venture of L+M Development Partners, BFC Partners and Taconic Investment Partners will develop 1.65 million square feet of mixed-use space on nine sites of mostly vacant land along Delancey and Essex streets on Manhattan's Lower East Side, the Bloomberg administration said Wednesday. The former Seward Park Extension Urban Renewal Area represents the largest undeveloped swath of city-owned land south of 96th Street, and has been in the works since 1965.

The development will be anchored by 1,000 multifamily units, half of which will be made permanently affordable for low-, moderate- and middle-income households and senior citizens. To be known as Essex Crossing, the project will also include a 15,000-square-foot open space; a new and expanded Essex Street Market; a dual-generation school operated by the Educational Alliance; a community center run by Grand Street Settlement, a rooftop urban farm; the Andy Warhol Museum; 250,000 square feet of office space; and a diverse mix of retail.

“For decades, these lots have sat vacant and under-used—despite repeated attempts by various mayors to redevelop sites,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Wednesday. “Now, that wait is finally over.”

The JV, known as Delancey Street Associates, was chosen for its response to an RFP jointly issued this past January by the New York City Economic Development Corp. and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Five of the sites included in the RFP were acquired as part of a 1965 federal urban renewal plan that called for commercial and housing development, with demolition of the sites beginning in 1967. While portions of the plan were implemented, five sites remained undeveloped and have been used mainly for surface parking.

A spring 2015 groundbreaking for the project is projected. The first five buildings will comprise a total of 580 apartments, including 316 permanently affordable units; they're due for completion by summer 2018.