https://www.thecity.nyc/platform/amp...-housing-fight
World Trade Center’s First Residential Tower Sparks Affordable-Housing Fight
By Rachel Holliday Smith
July 20, 2021
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Two decades after Sept. 11, 2001, the last re-building block of the World Trade Center is coming together.
A proposal for a 900-foot residential skyscraper on “Site 5”, formerly home to the Deutsche Bank Building, is in the works. It will include 1,325 apartments, a quarter of which will be so-called affordable, or rented below market rate.
But as the 20th anniversary of the attacks arrives, some locals are pushing for something different: Why not make the building a place where survivors and their families can live, with all of the units set at income-adjusted, affordable rents?
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To Mariama James, a longtime downtown resident who said she struggles with 9/11-related health issues and lost her father to a related cancer, taking that course is the right thing to do.
It would represent a recognition of the residents who made Lower Manhattan a “phenomenal” place to live after the attacks, she said.
“It’s the people who were asked to stay here, not to leave, and to live, basically, through a war zone — to move here in the aftermath of that, or to return to their homes that had been destroyed, and rebuild them. We did it. You asked, and we did it,” she said. “And there’s been no compensation for that. There’s been no thanks.”
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James is a co-founder of a new coalition of Lower Manhattan residents and housing advocates rallying to push multiple public agencies and two mega-developers, Brookfield Properties and Silverstein Properties, to change course on the Site 5 plan.
The building is set to be the first residential property within the downtown complex, and the last major site to be redeveloped there since the 2001 attacks.
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The current plan for the site calls for about 995 market-rate apartments and 330 affordable-housing units, also known as income-restricted apartments because they are rented to families within specific household earning categories.
The affordable units will be reserved for families making up to 50% of the area median income. With a local AMI of $107,400, a three-person family making only about $53,000 annually could secure a spot in the tower.
Will Burns, a spokesperson for Empire State Development — which oversees the Site 5 development proposal through its subsidiary, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation — described the newly planned building as delivering “the largest number of affordable apartments built in Lower Manhattan in decades.”
The proposed mixed-use tower also includes 12,000 square feet of community space, 55,000 square feet for public amenities, Burns noted.
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But it’s not enough to those organizing as The Coalition for an Affordable World Trade Center Tower Five.
“It’s like saying, ‘Isn’t this nice? Three-hundred units of potential affordable housing?’ No! We’re more than 300 people,” said Taylor Banning, a 28-year-old member of the coalition who was born in Battery Park City’s Gateway Plaza and has lived in the neighborhood for most of her life.
“It’s a wealthy neighborhood, for sure. I recognize that. But a lot of the families who have been here since 9/11 are not all wealthy. They have jobs. They’re trying to sustain themselves,” Banning said. “At a certain point, those people who stuck it out are slowly getting boxed out. The young people can’t come back.”
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The group’s main goals are to see a 5 WTC building that is 100% affordable housing, and to give a preference for some of those units to 9/11 survivors and their families — similar to how city-run housing lotteries often give an edge to applicants from the neighborhood or to public employees.
But those aims are going to be a tough sell for a project that’s been in the works for years — and aims to use the development as a way to raise funds for several big-ticket items within the WTC complex.
Whenever Site 5 is built, the proceeds will go to the Port Authority as repayment for a land swap that allowed for the building of the Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum as well as a performing arts center, under construction now, on land controlled by the Authority.
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Upping the amount of affordable apartments in the Site 5 building would require an infusion of public money to make up the difference between the below-market rents and the cost of building and maintaining each apartment. Without it, Brookfield and Silvestein — or any developer — may decide it’s not worth moving forward with the construction.
Which public entity would take responsibility for that effort is unclear. Site 5 is under the jurisdiction of the LMDC and Port Authority, but the city’s affordable housing department as well as the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development are also involved.
Between the city, state and federal governments — plus the bi-state Port Authority — Fine, a Lower Manhattan historian and member of the coalition, sees an opportunity.
“We have these four different entities. Any one of them could change their mind,” he said.
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Even in its current state, the Site 5 project has a long road ahead before any construction can begin. Greene, of the Port Authority, said a finalized lease deal is expected by the end of summer. That agreement with Brookfield and Silverstein needs a number of approvals from the LMDC, Port Authority and ESD.
On top of that, since the original WTC General Project Plan, or GPP, from the LMDC calls for Site 5 to become a commercial development, building residential there requires a project plan modification.
Changing the GPP would require approval from the LMDC board and the state’s Public Authorities Control Board as well as review from the Attorney General’s office and state comptroller. It will also go through a new environmental review.
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NEW YORK is Back!
“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
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The real reason for this is because 7 World Trade Center exists for 15 years and they leave 1 tower missing. That is like a hole between 5 and 7.
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