More On Building at West 54 and Ninth

Steve L attended the July 15 meeting of Community Board 4 regarding the proposed buildings at West 54 and Ninth and 48th and Tenth. He writes:

"I attended the first 1.5 hours of the meeting and have a few notes regarding the conversation on the MTA property at 54th st and 9th ave.

1. The buildings are to be 100% affordable housing. One building on 54th and 9th and one on 48th and 10th.
2. Affordable housing in this case is for moderate to middle income people - 80% to 50% of the median income, which in this case would be $45K-$85K for a single person or $70K-$103K for a family of 4.
3. The rules for this area allow 85' facing 9th ave and 66' on 54th st. Special permit allows 115' on 9th ave and 95' on 54th. (Ailey is 85'). The special permit has only been used twice since it was introduced in 1973.
4. There was a "surprise" request for 30,000 sr ft of MTA office space in this building. CB4 is requesting this be dropped in order to get more affordable housing units.
5. CB4 is requesting that the retail space designated for the ground floor on 9th ave be used for a grocery store.
6. CB4 is working with the neighborhood groups on a compromise that will get the maximum number of affordable housing units with minimal impact to the feel of our neighborhood and the 48th st/10ave neighborhood where the other building ins planned.
7. CB4 asked the city planners to provide some more options (attached) that illustrate the proposed buildings in different configurations at different heights. The illustrations attached also indicate the number of units estimated in the buildings.
8. Several of the attendees commented that the board and community at large should pressure for more of the units to be placed on-site in the rail yards developments (to much applause) and not to pressure the off-site buildings to be so large as to accomodate all the desired units.
9. Everyone is taking very seriously the height restrictions in the comminuty. The goal is to compromise and come up with a solution so that the city won't completely disregard us and just build what they want.
10. MTA is using sales from the rail yards project to fund NYC transit, so CB4 feels they have a "trump card" to argue for not having all the affordable housing units on site (they need to get the most out of their asset).

I'm sure there are some points I'm missing, but perhaps someone else who attended can fill in some gaps."