25% of Apts at Future WTC Resi Tower to Rent at Below Market Value

By: Ilana Siyance

A 900-foot residential tower could be coming to the World Trade Center site.

As reported by the NY Times, this would be the only apartment tower be built at the16-acre site, where the September 11 attacks struck 20 years ago. The 1.56 million-square-foot, glass-and-masonry tower to be designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, is being planned for Site 5, at 130 Liberty Street, a publicly owned property. The planned 80-story skyscraper would include 1,200 apartments, and would also include office, retail and community space. As of now, 25 percent, or 300 apartments, have been designated as permanently affordable, and will rent at below market value to those making up to 50 percent of the area median income. Developers at Brookfield Properties and Silverstein Properties could begin the construction in 2023, if plans are approved.

A possible glitch could come if community advocates and local elected officials pose a strong opposition to the plans. One group is already voicing frustration, and calling for the tower to be 100 percent affordable. The group is pushing to turn this building into the world’s tallest 100-percent-affordable housing project, making it an emblem of equity for those who rebuilt Lower Manhattan. The group proposed giving tenant preference to 9/11 survivors and essential workers.

Of course, the difficulty in making a building that’s completely affordable would include offsetting the cost without top-dollar tenants. Also, three or four times as many affordable units could likely be built at the same cost in a less desirable location.

Such a soaring skyscraper, at this site which has so many complex government oversight issues, is not a small feat to finance. But proponents laud this as an opportunity to add more affordable housing in one shot than has been built in Lower Manhattan in years. “The timing is like by divine design,” said Mariama James, a founder of the Coalition for a 100% Affordable 5WTC. “The 20-year anniversary, the housing crisis, the pandemic — it’s like the perfect recipe for something like this to finally be achieved.”

As per the Times, such an endeavor would require unprecedented subsidies from the government. The developers said in a statement that, to quadruple the number of affordable apartments from 300 to 1,200, they would need at least an additional $500 million in government funding. However, that amount of money could subsidize approximately four times as many units elsewhere in a less expensive area.

“The construction costs for 900-foot towers are exorbitant and only going up,” commented Alicia Glen, a former deputy mayor of housing and economic development, and a board member of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which owns the site, and supports the 25% plan. “This project already has very deep affordability in it, so I don’t think that’s on the table”.