Completed Projects

353-355 West 30th Street
(2 buildings, 34 apartments)
The site at West 30th Street currently consists of two deteriorated mid-19th century brownstone buildings. CHDC will combine them, add three stories, and provide a community room and interior courtyard. The buildings will be renovated under one construction contract and undergo a gut rehabilitation and conversion from a 60-unit walkup SRO complex to 32 Class A SRO units. The renovation scope of work will include new mechanical services, new finishes, façade restoration, and public area renovation. A small community room and the courtyard will serve as common space. We hope to close in November of 2005 and begin construction in December 2005. Construction will last approximately 18 months.

Currently the buildings need major structural work. Before CHDC took possession of this site they were the major source of drug traffic on the block. One building was so poorly managed that tenants had only three days of hot water during 1994. CHDC began managing these buildings in the fall of 1994, at the request of New York City's Department of Housing Preservation and Development. CHDC developed plans both for immediate stabilization and for long-term affordable housing development. In 1995, CHDC reduced the number involved in illegal activity from a third of the population to two people by working with the Police Department, the block association, and Manhattan Community Board No. 4. Basic services were restored. During this period CHDC relocated the families to other renovated affordable housing owned by CHDC. By 1996 all drug activity had ceased. This project will be financed through low-income housing tax credits and Macklowe Fund dollars.

501 West 52nd Street
(4 buildings, 27 apartments., 2 stores)
This complex of four buildings is located at the northwest corner of 10th Avenue and 52nd Street. The buildings have undergone gut rehabilitation with new apartment layouts. The four buildings were combined into a single structure with a common lobby and elevator. The buildings were developed through New York City's Inclusionary Housing program and privately financed. Renovation began in Fall 2001 and the 27-unit building was completed in March 2003.

500 West 42nd Street (East Wing)
500 West 42nd Street (West wing)
(4 buildings, 92 apartments, 2 stores)
Since the early 1970's, the tenants of the buildings located at 500, 502, and 506 West 42nd Street, 561-567 10th Avenue and 501-3 West 41st Street have suffered great hardships under a series of unscrupulous owners. Employing illegal tactics, owners and their agents attempted to force tenants out, vacating the buildings in order to redevelop the site. In 1982, the Rent Control Division of NYS DHCR determined a finding of harassment against the owners. From that time, the redevelopment of the property became subject to a provision the Clinton Special Zoning District. Under that provision, the "Cure for Harassment," the redevelopment of the property is prohibited unless the owner dedicates a portion of the property for use as affordable housing in perpetuity.

In 1995, Lexington Realty Group purchased the entire site, situated along 10th Avenue between 41st and 42nd. In 1998, at the request of the Tenants Association and Housing Conservation Coordinators, a tenant advocacy group, CHDC assembled a development team. This team put together a comprehensive proposal to meet the requirements of "Cure for Harassment" housing acceptable to the tenants, the community and the City Housing Department. On the southern portion of the site (West 41 Street), a 43 story 80/20 residential tower was built by Sidney Fetner Associates and Lexington Realty.

On the northern portion, the renovation of 4 model tenements designed by Ernest Flagg and dating from 1899, produced 25 affordable family apartments to meet the Cure provisions. Construction of Phase 1 was completed in October 2002. The second phase of development will produce a west wing of the same building dedicated to homeless singles including the mentally ill and will be funded by New York City's Supportive Housing Program.

564 West 52nd Street / 565 West 51st Street
(6 buildings, 43 apartments, 5 stores, 1 community garden)
Completed in August 2001, this 6-building 43-unit complex at 52nd Street and Eleventh Avenue, part of the Clinton Urban Renewal Area and home to 23 long-term tenants, had remained untouched for over 26 years by the City since condemnation in 1969. The complex entered the TIL Program in October 1994. Working with CHDC since fall 1995, the tenants decided to enter the TIL Pilot Program in February 1997. Under this program, the renovation of the complex was financed through City funds and private equity through the syndication of Low Income Housing Tax Credits. The project closed in June 1999; construction began in August of 1999 and was completed in August 2001.

458 West 17th Street / 463 West 35th Street
(2 buildings, 29 apartments, 3 stores)
This renovation provides affordable apartments for low, moderate and middle-income residents. Originally built as typical tenements, apartments of 3 to 4 rooms, tubs in the kitchen and water closet in public hallways, these buildings, though structurally sound, were in poor condition requiring full replacement of all systems. The renovation was financed by New York City's Neighborhood Redevelopment Program and equity generated from Low Income Housing Tax Credits. Construction was completed in December 2002.

300 West 46th Street
(5 buildings, 70 apartments, 3 stores)
Located on the corner of 8th Avenue and West 46th Street, this 5-building complex is a gateway to Restaurant Row. It had also been an unceasing source of illegal activity -- prostitution and drug dealing -- which severely impacted business on the Row. A coordinated enforcement effort with the Midtown North Precinct, Manhattan South Narcotics and the Mayor's Office of Midtown Enforcement, together with Manhattan Community Board #4, yielded eviction of 27 tenants involved in prostitution and drug dealing.

After 3 years of stabilization, Clinton Housing was part of a Supreme Court settlement with the owner--the Estate of Sol Goldman--and City of New York. Plans and financing were approved by HPD's Supportive Housing Program to create 70 units of Supportive Housing, with an integrated population of persons with HIV/AIDS, working homeless and existing tenants, with social services both off and on site. The buildings were merged with a single entrance and an added floor, a front desk, an elevator, a community room and rear yard garden. Social services are provided both on and off site by CHDC Social Service Staff. Construction of the project was completed in December of 1999.

401 West 40th Street
(7 buildings, 38 apartments, 5 stores)
This 7-building complex at the northwest corner of 40th Street and Ninth Avenue began renovation in October 1996 through the Neighborhood Redevelopment Program. These post-Civil War tenements are home not only to long-term neighborhood residents, but also to long established neighborhood businesses. The Sea Breeze Fish market has been in continuous operation on 9th Avenue and 40th Street for over 100 years. This innovative project is built upon the stability of those businesses.

The Flats and Old School
554 West 53rd Street (West Wing)
552 West 53rd Street (East wing)
(2 buildings, 86 apartments, 1 store, 1 community garden)
Tenants of 554 West 53rd (The Flats) have long been organized into Tenant Association, seeking support for plans to renovate this building. Together, over a period of 6 months in 1999, CHDC and the Tenant Association developed a renovation proposal for that combines 554 (the Flats) and 552 (the Old School) in order to provide 86 units of integrated affordable housing, for families and formerly homeless individuals. The innovative project gained the support of Community Board 4 in November 1999. The project is financed through New York City's Neighborhood Redevelopment Program, the supportive Housing Loan Program, and equity through the syndication of Low Income Housing Tax Credits and Historic Preservation Tax Credits. The buildings will be completed in March 2006.

In Construction - 2008

501-505 West 51st Street
(2 buildings, 22 apartments, 3 stores)
The last of the Clinton Urban Renewal Area buildings to be renovated, the 501 building is home to 9 long-term tenants and the 505 building is home to a family-owned auto body shop that has been in operation since the 1950's. The buildings will be renovated to create 22 affordable apartments through the Inclusionary Housing program. Construction began in May 2005 on 501 West 51st Street. Construction will begin on 505 West 51st Street in March 2006.

In Development - 2008

228 W 17th Street
(1 building, 15 apartments)
This small 15-unit TIL building in Chelsea with an entangled legal situation demanded a complex development solution. After the death of the long-term owner, the incompetent heir, falling into serious disrepair and lacking basic services mismanaged the building. The tenants opened an escrow account, began collecting rent, assumed some of the management responsibility; a 7A Administrator was eventually appointed. The executor of the estate, a bank, declined appointment leading to takeover of the estate by the Public Administrator at the same time a trustee was appointed to manage the heir affairs.

Neither party paid real estate and related taxes; the City vested the building in 1992. The City's vesting is now subject to a legal dispute by the Public Administrator. The tenants, working with CHDC and a pro bono lawyer from the law firm Debevoise and Plimpton proposed a settlement of the legal action. The tenants formed an Article XI HDFC and the Public Administrator agreed to sell the building to the tenants for a mutually agreed-upon price. The building is now being converted to a moderate-income cooperative.

460 West 37th Street
(3 buildings, 20 apartments, 1 store, 1 community center)
This 3-building complex originally renovated by the City of New York in 1993 as homeless housing for families developed structural problems soon thereafter. The renovation will consist of a gut renovation with all new structural and mechanical systems and the addition of four new floors. The renovation will remedy the structural issues in the building and clean up the oil spill beneath the building from the adjacent gas station. All tenants will be temporarily relocated off site during construction. After renovation the complex will have a single entrance and outdoor space on the roof of the community center. In addition, the Clinton South Community Center will be completely renovated and expanded.

Complete list of all the development projects