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Read the press release here.

Former Chelsea Women's Prison Slated to Become Hub for Women's Rights

By Gwynne Hogan | November 23, 2015 3:51pm
 The Bayview Correction facility, which state officials hope to close within in the next year, sits among the luxury condos and art galleries of West Chelsea.
The Bayview Correction facility, which state officials hope to close within in the next year, sits among the luxury condos and art galleries of West Chelsea.
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DNAinfo/Mathew Katz

CHELSEA — The defunct Bayview Correctional Facility, a women's prison shuttered in 2013, is going to be transformed into a hub for women's rights and activism as part of an international design competition, the building's developers announced last week.

The developers behind the project — the NoVo Foundation and the Goren Group have ambitious plans of turning the state-owned, former prison at 550 W. 20th St. into a "Women's Building" — a locus for women's rights activism and advocacy with room for offices, an art gallery, a restaurant, community spaces and a health clinic.

Architects who apply for the design competition have to show how they plan on preserving the building's historic structure.

NoVo — a foundation that focuses on women's issues and the Goren Group — a women owned and operated developer and investment company - were selected selected by the state in October, following a request for proposals for the empty facility in May of 2014.

The state granted the developers a lease for up to 100 years and the rights to renovate the building.

The deadline to apply for the design competition is on Jan. 6 and the winner will be selected by June next year. For more information visit the Women's Building website.