CB8 Examines Possible Affordable Housing Project on E. 83rd Street

Fifty units of relatively affordable housing, at least by the standards of the Upper East Side, may soon be coming to E. 83rd St.

Douglaston Development, which purchased a significant chunk of the Third Avenue block that would contain the development back in June, attended an Oct. 22 Community Board 8 meeting to describe the parameters of the possible project–which they eventually confirmed will be paired with a luxury development on the southern corner of the block. Details on that project are more slim, although it will reportedly extend to just under 500 ft. tall, and will contain around 70 units.

Douglaston hopes that NYC’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development will approve the affordable conversion of 170 E. 83rd St., which will be organized around a tax abatement called Article 11, by the end of the year.

Steven Charno, Douglaston Development’s president, told CB8’s Zoning & Development Committee that the development of the block was the firm’s first project on the Upper East Side. Daniel Russo, also of Douglaston, said that the affordable units would be made available under Voluntary Inclusionary Housing (VIH) zoning rules. Affordable units are a “rarity, if not nonexistent” on the Upper East Side, Russo added.

Essentially, and after much clarification, the Douglaston reps explained that none of the building’s current occupants would be evicted if HPD approves the plan. In fact, they’d have their units stabilized. Then, when they leave, the units would be entered into an affordable housing lottery–which would be set at 80 percent of the area’s median income. Russo said that this would translate to around $1,864 for a studio, $2,331 for a one-bedroom, and $2,796 for a two-bedroom.

Although the affordable project has yet to be approved, Russo and Charno noted that they were currently upgrading the building’s electrical panels, which Charno said were not up to “standard.” They would also be replacing the gas stoves with electric stoves, to comply with Local Law 11, although the shared boiler unit would not change.

Some local residents attending the virtual CB8 meeting wanted to know whether the building’s tenants were “aware” of the affordable conversion, as Elaine Walsh put it.

“We do not know for certain that we will be able to go forward with this. I don’t know to what extent tenants are formally aware of what’s going on,” Charno admitted.

Denise Jekrel was not satisfied with this answer. “I am attempting to be as respectful as possible, but I don’t like what I’m hearing,” she pointedly said. “It doesn’t sound like there’s full transparency.”

Sacha Sellem, a Community Board 8 member that used to work for HPD, seemed to rally behind the developers. “I love to see a building staying, and tenants staying,” she said.

Valerie Mason, CB8’s chair, briefly popped in to tell the Douglaston reps that she was “happy” to have them. She ribbed them by noting that they weren’t doing this “out of the goodness” of their hearts, given the expected profitability of the tower project on the south end of the block.

Jane Marshall, also of CB8, was more outright critical: “No question the developer is here to try to establish some goodwill with all of us, but no question he’s also taking advantage. My initial instinct is that I’m a little bit cynical about this.”

Charno did not deny that he hoped the affordable project would be “reputationally good” for Douglaston, especially given any future opposition to the firm’s towering luxury projects.