LOWER EAST SIDE — The first affordable apartments at the sprawling Essex Crossing development are now up for grabs through the city's affordable housing lottery, with studios starting at just $519 a month.
The city on Thursday began accepting applications for 104 below-market-rate apartments at 145 Clinton St. — the first of 561 affordable units the multi-site megaproject will bring to the neighborhood by 2024.
The project's launch follows decades of contention over the fate of those parcels of land — stretching along Delancey Street between Essex and Attorney streets — which had sat mostly vacant since 1967.
The building at 145 Clinton St., which is slated for completion this fall, will include 211 total apartments and sit atop a Trader Joe's and a Planet Fitness.
Based on the size of the applicant's household and annual earnings, apartments range in price from $519 for a studio to $3,424 for a three-bedroom.
See the full rundown below:
Once completed, Essex Crossing's nine sites will bring a total of 1,078 new residential units to the neighborhood, over half of which will be below-market-rate. The development will also include a host of new retail and entertainment options, including an underground market and beer hall.
The arrival of the units has been decades in the making. In 1967, the city razed the buildings sitting on the parcels, and the area remained largely derelict until the impending redevelopment of the property was announced in 2013, The New York Times reported.
Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who has since been found guilty on a handful of corruption charges, thwarted efforts for decades to put affordable housing on the land out of a desire to preserve the Jewish presence on the Lower East Side, the Times reported.
Jewish leaders reportedly felt threatened by the encroachment of other groups in the area.
Now, tenants that had occupied the buildings wiped out in the 60s will be prioritized in the housing lottery that opened Thursday.
Anyone who lived in the Seward Park Extension Urban Renewal Area (SPEURA) — bordered by Essex, Delancey, Grand and Willet Streets — between 1965 and 1973 will be given preference in the application process for roughly a quarter of the units, according to the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
While residents of Community Board 3, which spans the Lower East Side, East Village and Chinatown, will be given preference for 50 percent of the affordable units, former SPEURA tenants' applications will be prioritized for half of those apartments, HPD said.
Additionally, 5 percent of the affordable units will be set aside for mobility-disabled applicants, while 2 percent will be set aside for those with hearing or vision disabilities.
Applications are due by May 2.
Developer Delancey Street Associates and city agencies will host an information session on the affordable housing application process on March 6 at the Seward Park High School Auditorium, 350 Grand St., from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
