260 Below-Market Units Coming To Vacant Hell's Kitchen Sites

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — Two development teams have been selected to build below-market-rate housing on city-owned sites in Hell's Kitchen, city officials announced this week.

Developers Hudson Companies and Douglaston Development were each awarded bids Wednesday to develop two sites into 100 percent below-market housing developments, Department of Housing Preservation & Development Commissioner Maira Torres-Springer announced Wednesday. Each developer will work with nonprofit organizations to run community spaces at the developments.

"In selecting these development proposals for these critical sites in Hell’s Kitchen, we aren’t just bringing more than 250 new affordable homes to Manhattan, we’re adding vital community space and providing critically needed services to some of our city’s most vulnerable residents to help them lead high quality, fulfilling lives," Torres-Springer said in a statement.

Hudson Companies will develop a site on Ninth Avenue and West 46th Street with the nonprofit partner Housing Works. The building will contain 100 apartments for renters from very low and low income levels and units dedicated for the formerly homeless, city officials said. Hosing Works will operate a thrift store in the building.

The Hudson Companies development will also include offices for New York City Transit and underground parking spaces for emergency vehicles.

Douglaston Development is partnering with the nonprofit The Actors Fund to bring 160 apartments for a range of incomes to its Tenth Avenue and West 48th Street site, city officials said. The development will feature a community arts space on the ground-floor and open space developed by the city Parks Department.

"These 100% affordable housing developments in Hell’s Kitchen are a long time in the making, and we need them now more than ever. These two projects will create desperately needed affordable housing for a wide range of residents, from very low income to moderate income households," City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who represents Hell's Kitchen, said in a statement.

The sites were identified for 100 percent below-market housing buildings through the city's Western Rail Yard plan, which is now known as Hudson Yards. Both sites are currently vacant. Many of Hudson Yards' first mega-developments are set to debut this year.

Rendering 1 courtesy CentraRuddy, rendering 2 courtesy S9 Architects