UPPER WEST SIDE — Affordable housing that the Collegiate School is required to construct in order to open a new building in the Riverside South Development is being proposed for a separate site farther north, to the dismay of local politicians.
As part of its agreement with the city, the private K-12 boys school must fund the building of 55 affordable housing units within the Riverside South development before it can open the doors of its new campus at 301 Freedom Place and West 62nd Street.
The private school sold its longtime West 78th Street building for $97 million and is expected to open the new nine-story building in the fall of 2017.
But local leaders said the school now wants to move the location of the affordable units off site to West 108th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus avenues, a decision announced at meeting of Community Board 7 Tuesday night.
"After a developer has already committed to produce affordable housing units, I am wary of deals that swap on-site units we should already have for off-site units that are yet to be built," said Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.
City Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal also expressed "serious concerns" over the proposal, especially when it hasn't received input from the community.
"We need additional information about the timing of building the affordable housing and its value at Riverside South versus West 108th Street," she said.
Under the new proposal, the housing on West 108th Street would be made permanently affordable as opposed to the units built at Riverside South, said Brewer, who viewed that as a positive aspect of the new proposal.
Collegiate declined to comment.
Community Board 7 is hosting a public meeting on the proposal, which needs approval from the Department of City Planning, on March 9 at 6:30 p.m. at its board offices at 250 W. 87th St.
