2 Skyscrapers Proposed For Long-Vacant Hell's Kitchen Lot

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — A city-owned lot in Hell's Kitchen that has sat empty for decades despite calls from neighbors to redevelop it may finally be built on, as developers seek to construct a pair of skyscrapers containing a hotel and affordable apartments.

New documents submitted to the city last week reveal the development plans at 495 11th Ave., a site near West 39th Street known as "slaughterhouse" that currently houses an NYPD parking lot.

The documents signal that the city will seek to rezone the site by moving through the lengthy ULURP process. If approved, the project would result in a 680-foot-tall apartment tower with 350 affordable units, as well as a 653-foot hotel.

"Six years of working together"

Starting in the early 1900s, the site was home to the New York Butchers’ Dressed Meat Company's slaughterhouse, a six-story Neo-Renaissance building that was taken over by the city in 1975.

Members of Community Board 4 pushed the city to declare it a landmark, but the building fell into disrepair, became structurally unsound and was demolished in 1993, soon becoming the present-day parking lot.

Starting in 2005, CB4 began pushing to develop the site into affordable housing, winning a commitment from the city as part of the Hudson Yards rezoning process. It picked up again in 2015, as the city's Economic Development Corporation began seeking development proposals.

Community Board 4 voted unanimously to endorse the new design in November, calling it the culmination of "six years of working together, with 45 meetings, briefings and conference calls" between the board and city agencies. (The board has not yet taken a position on the land use application).

The new proposal — first reported by New York YIMBY — was filed by EDC as well as the NYPD, which will get a new 55-car parking lot. The plans were presented to the city's City Planning Commission on Tuesday.

Supermarket, supportive housing, pedestrian walkway

The 275 affordable apartments in the taller north tower will be available to people making between 80 and 100 percent of the area median income, with some units reserved for those making 165 percent AMI.

The tower also calls for 75 supportive housing units for formerly homeless families and individuals, along with 1,800 square feet of space for social services.

The hotel tower, meanwhile, will contain 680 guest rooms and 19,000 square feet of amenities.

At the base of the two towers will be a commercial podium, consisting of nearly 8,900 square feet of office space, a 4,790-square-foot supermarket, a hotel lobby, a restaurant and a pedestrian walkway to the Javits Convention Center.

The proposed rezoning calls for changing the site from M1-5, a zoning code designed for light manufacturing, to C6-4, a dense type of zoning found in major business districts.

It would also move the site to be within the Special Hudson Yards District, created in 2005 to allow for mixed-use development on Manhattan's West Side.

The next step in the project's approval will be a formal presentation to Community Board 4 on May 12.