Adams Administration Announces Two New Projects in Housing Push

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is kicking off his “Affordable Fall” initiative with an announcement that city-owned properties at 390 Kent Avenue in Brooklyn and 1880 First Avenue in Manhattan are expected to be redeveloped into about 1,700 new homes across both locations. 

The projects are part of the administration’s previously announced plan pledging 9,750 new homes across 11 properties around the city, and are being advanced through the mayor’s City Housing Activation Task Force (CHAT). The task force was created after Adams signed an executive order last year requiring agencies citywide to review their portfolios and identify city-owned sites that could potentially be used for housing. 

The city has begun public engagement initiatives and issued requests for proposals to create about 900 new homes at 390 Kent Avenue in Brooklyn, and about 800 new homes at 1880 First Avenue in Manhattan. Around one-quarter of the homes at each site will be designated as affordable housing. 

New York City has been in the midst of an affordable housing crisis for well over a decade as the city struggles with a historically low residential vacancy rate of 1.4 percent. Adams has made growing the city’s housing stock a key element of his administration. 

Since Adams signed the executive order, CHAT has advanced about 10,000 new homes on city-owned properties, Adolfo Carrion Jr., deputy mayor for housing, economic development, and workforce, said in a press statement.

The Grand Concourse Library, at 155 East 173rd Street in the Bronx, is another site being redeveloped, in this case for a new library and 100 percent affordable housing, the Adams administration said. It’s part of an initiative called the Living Library, which is aimed at building more homes and libraries together. The New Utrecht Library at 1743 86th Street in Brooklyn and the Bloomingdale Library at 150 West 100th Street in Manhattan are also part of the library/housing plan. 

Additionally, the Bloomingdale project will include the development of a replacement health clinic for the neighborhood. The rest of the previously announced developments are found across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. 

“Where past administrations saw vacant lots and old office buildings, our administration saw housing,” Adams said in a press statement. “We have been clear that the only way out of our housing crisis is to build more housing, and that is exactly what we are doing.”

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