State Approves $28M Investment to Turn Former Harlem Prison Into Affordable Housing

A New York State board has approved $28 million in state funding to turn the former Lincoln Correctional Facility, a former men’s minimum security prison in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood, into an affordable housing development, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday. The state funding comes as part of a larger $100 million investment in the Harlem community, Hochul said.

The Public Authorities Control Board (PACB), which reviews and approves the financing and construction of major projects, voted to approve the funding that will allow Infinite Horizons, L+M Development Partners, Urbane Development and Lemor Development Group — the development team selected by Hochul in 2023 —  to turn the eight-story property at 31-33 West 110th Street into a new 22-story, mixed-use building that will include 105 income-restricted units. The project is also set to include up to 7,626 square feet of ground-floor community space for cultural programming, a library and events.

The Lincoln Correctional Facility — which some say has a haunted past — permanently closed in 2019. In March 2023, New York’s Empire State Development (ESD) issued a request for proposals to redevelop the site. 

“Today’s PACB approval is a critical step forward for this landmark project,” Hope Knight, CEO and commissioner of ESD, said in a statement. “Led by a majority minority-owned development team, the redevelopment of the former Lincoln Correctional Facility demonstrates what equitable economic development looks like in practice — delivering a nearly $100 million investment, hundreds of jobs, and a new pathway for Harlem families to build generational wealth.”

The new development, which has been dubbed Seneca, will offer units for purchase rather than rentals, with one- to three-bedroom units starting for households earning 40 percent of the area median income (AUM), a drop from the originally proposed plan for units to start at 80 percent of the AUM. Nearly one-third of the units will also be reserved for households earning no more than 60 percent of the AUM.

“New Yorkers across our state are facing a housing affordability crisis, and meeting that challenge requires bold action and creative use of every available resource,” Hochul said in a statement. “By repurposing underutilized state property, we are expanding housing supply, supporting good-paying jobs, and ensuring that families have the chance not only to live in New York, but to build stability and generational opportunity here.”

Construction on the project is set to begin once the financing closes, and the expected completion year is 2028, according to Crain’s New York Business, which first reported news of the state’s funding approval.

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.