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Old Posted Feb 27, 2013, 2:56 PM
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http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/0...less_spura.php

Before Redevelopment, A Brief History of the LES's SPURA





February 27, 2013
by Sara Polsky

Quote:
Everybody's finally talking about the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area—SPURA for short—the largest spread of undeveloped Manhattan land the city owns south of 96th Street. Developer proposals for the site are due May 6, and all the major names are circling. And some not-so-major names, probably, since the request for proposals has been downloaded from the city's website 750 times. The level of interest is one SPURA hasn't seen in its half-century (but feels longer) history of waiting for redevelopment. But there were, as the Times reminds us, a few failed redevelopment schemes during that period.

The buildings on the site were originally razed with the goal of urban renewal, but the financing fell through shortly thereafter. The second major attempt to revamp SPURA came from the LeFrak Organization in the 1980s, but that attempt, too, collapsed. Most recently, in 2003, the city and opponents went head-to-head on plans to put lower- and middle-income housing on the SPURA lots, and the opponents won.

Affordable housing is still an issue now, even though development appears more likely to proceed. Several developers tell the Times they are hesitant to bid because of the amount of affordable housing (half of the 1,000 planned residential units) included in the SPURA plan; others wonder why the affordable housing has to be in a neighborhood where they could otherwise make some real money. But given the amount of interest so far, there will surely still be enough developers who want to play.



http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/re...agewanted=all&

After Years of Delay, a Lower East Side Gap Is Ready to Be Filled





By RONDA KAYSEN
February 26, 2013


Quote:
Nearly half a century after a neighborhood of tenements on the Lower East Side was razed in the name of urban renewal, the area — which happens to be the largest undeveloped swath of city-owned land in Manhattan south of 96th Street — is finally poised for redevelopment. Last month, the city released a request for proposals from developers, ending a bitter chapter in New York City’s development history.

The nine sites, including several parking lots along the south side of Delancey Street from Essex Street to the Williamsburg Bridge, make up 1.65 million square feet of space for development. The city’s proposal is a hard-fought compromise for a six-acre slice of Manhattan that has been a trigger point since nearly 2,000 residents were displaced and most of their homes bulldozed in 1967.

While the rest of the Lower East Side grew into a hip neighborhood of fashionable restaurants, chic hotels and glassy condos, the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area stood out as a dreary reminder of the failings of urban planning. But three years ago, the city gingerly revived discussions with vying neighborhood factions.

“Forty-five years is a very long time to look at those lots everyday, and that wasn’t something that we wanted to continue for another 40 years,” said Gigi Li, the chairwoman of Community Board 3. “I think this time when all the stakeholders were called, we were really hoping that this would be the time that everything would move along.”

For decades, advocates of affordable housing sparred with residents of the powerful Grand Street co-ops, who preferred more market-rate housing and commercial uses for the site. The new agreement splits the difference, calling for 1,000 new units of housing, half of which will be permanently affordable. The 500 affordable units will be a mix of housing for seniors, and low- to moderate-income housing for families earning from 60 to 165 percent of the area’s median income.

The remaining 40 percent of the development area will be reserved for commercial uses, with up to 600,000 square feet of commercial space that will include street level retailing, and a hotel or office space. The plan also calls for 15,000 square feet of open public space and a new public school.
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