Long-Vacant Chelsea Buildings To Be Demolished, Permits Show

CHELSEA, NY — The city is moving to demolish a row of four vacant buildings in Chelsea whose possible redevelopment divided city officials in recent years.

Permits were filed Thursday to knock down the five-story rowhouses at 201-207 Seventh Ave., near West 22nd Street.

Built in the late 19th century, the city took them over through foreclosure in 1976 and tried unsuccessfully for years to redevelop the site, according to a 2019 report by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer's office.

Tenants began moving out in 2008 as the city began efforts to remake the buildings into affordable housing, with the last tenant relocated sometime in 2018.

"This intersection is the black hole of Chelsea," Pamela Wolff, a local block association president, told the New York Post in 2012. "It’s just criminal that this condition could go on for decades, worsening every day."

The city's proposal to rezone the site, paving the way for new development, was approved by the City Council in 2019 — even though the plan was opposed by Brewer and Community Board 4, mostly because the city could not pledge that the future apartments would remain affordable forever.

The new eight-story building proposed by the city for the site would include 26 apartments for sale, available to families earning up to 160 percent of the area median income.

No new construction permits have been filed for the site.