EAST HARLEM — A thousand apartments, 70,000 square feet of development space, and a proton beam therapy center are coming to El Barrio.
The city’s Economic Development Corporation released a request for proposals (RFP) for the development of a 7,000 square-foot site on 126th Street and Third Avenue.
“The East 125th Street Development site will bring much-needed affordable housing to East Harlem, along with the jobs and critical commercial, retail, community, and open spaces that residents and neighborhoods need to thrive,” City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said in a statement.
The project, which includes 2321-2325 Third Ave., will expand the mayor’s announcement to increase the role of minority and woman-owned businesses in development projects. Emerging developers will be given preference in the selection process, a city spokesman said.
The site will be part of a larger development dubbed “E125” which will span from 125th to 127th streets along Second and Third avenues, according to the city's Economic Development Corporation.
Part of that includes hundreds units of “affordable” housing units. About half of them will be affordable for people making East Harlem's median household income of $31,000.
Of the 950 units, 295 will be priced lower than 60 percent Average Median Income — $46,600 for a family of three. Two hundred apartments will be priced between 60 to 100 percent AMI — $77,000 — and 242 will be priced at 131 percent AMI — $101,000. The cap will be 150 percent AMI.
The E125 development will also be home to the New York Proton Center, which will be the state’s first proton beam therapy center and also house a biotech incubator.
“E125 will also drive technology and medical innovation to the neighborhood,” Viverito said.
The site of the project is one block north of a contested area that the city seized from private owners via eminent domain in 2008. Last October they sued claiming the city ran out of time to develop the area.
A state judge dismissed the case but they’ve appealed the decision. The city cannot acquire the property until the appeal is decided, a spokesman said.
