By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
HARLEM — New Yorkers seeking affordable housing to rent or buy now have two new buildings to choose from.
Beacon Towers and Beacon Mews replaced a formerly vacant lot owned by the city at 29 West 138th St. and 45 West 139th St. and were developed under the Bloomberg Administration’s New Housing Marketplace Plan, which seeks to build or preserve 165,000 housing units in the five boroughs by 2013.
“Beacon Mews and Beacon Towers are great examples of mixed-income projects that offer both homeownership opportunities alongside lower income rental apartments,” HPD Deputy Commissioner for Development Holly Leicht said in a statement.
At the eight-story Beacon Towers, prospective middle-income tenants can apply for home ownership, which will be decided approved and selected through a lotter The 125-unit Beacon Mews will offer rental units for low-income applicants.
Apartments for sale at Beacon Towers average $260,000 for a one-bedroom and $350,000 for two bedrooms. Rentals at Beacon Mews begin at $782 for a one-bedroom and $943 for two bedrooms. Applicants for either development will be chosen by lottery.
“What had been a vacant lot and for years had contributed to the sense of blight and despair in the community,” New York City Housing Development Corporation President Marc Jahr told NY1 after a ribbon-cutting ceremony this week. “What's been built here now are two projects that are symbols and facts about a new community, a community that's diverse and that provides affordable housing to a broad range of the community residents.”
