UES NYCHA Residents Celebrate Reversal On 50-Story Tower

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Residents who opposed for years a city plan to allow private development at an Upper East Side public housing complex celebrated the city's decision to scrap the plan to conduct more community outreach.

A group of tenants at the Holmes Tower and Stanley M. Isaacs Houses on East 92nd Street between First and York avenues held a victory rally at the developments on Monday following the New York City Housing Authority's decision to rescind a development application for a 50-story apartment tower late last week. Many tenants have protested the plan since it was announced in 2017 because the development will replace a playground and tower over their homes.

The city announced Friday that it will conduct additional community outreach and that it still plans to partner with Fetner Properties to develop a new plan for the site. But tenants hinted Monday that they will oppose any private development at the public housing developments.

"The proposal of a 50-story building to loom over us at Holmes was met with a resounding NO," La Keesha Taylor, a lifelong resident of Holmes Towers, said in a statement. "We have asked and will continue to advocate that NYCHA find a better solution than privatization. We are not going to settle for less because we live in a NYCHA development."

Fetner Properties was selected by NYCHA in 2017 to develop the East 92nd Street site in exchange for $25 million to be used for repairs at the two Holmes Towers buildings. The plan drew condemnation from residents, the local community board and elected officials.

Read Patch's previous coverage about objections to NYCHA's plan.

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer sued Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYCHA in April to force the project through the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. The city is seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed in the wake of the decision to scrap the plan, a NYCHA rep said Friday.

Fetner's plan for the site would have resulted in a 530-foot-tall tower with 339 apartments. Half of the apartments would have been offered at market rates and the other half would have been offered at regulated below-market rates. CEO Hal Fetner told Patch in previous conversations that suggestions that the developer did not conduct outreach with NYCHA residents were "hurtful."

Residents had originally planned a protest march around the public housing development for Monday, but quickly shifted to a celebration following the city's announcement.

"We, the tenants, never gave up, and we felt strong about fighting to retain our land and playground that the community utilizes. The plan would have deprived and devastated this community," Saundrea Coleman, a current resident of Isaacs Houses and former resident of Holmes Towers, said in a statement.