The rendering of the New Providence Redevelopment. Image Credit: NYC CPC/HPD/DHS.
The new building will replace the existing shelter. On April 4, 2022, the City Council Committee on Land Use voted to approve the New Providence Redevelopment Project at 225 East 45th Street in East Midtown. The project consists of a new 21-story building and an emergency shelter that will replace the existing women’s shelter, which is currently retrofitted into two buildings. The proposed building can be constructed as-of-right, but still requires public review as it is a City-owned site.
The new building will contain 130 housing units, 79 of which will be supportive housing for formerly homeless tenants, and will be priced at 30 percent of their income. The remaining units will be affordable at 60 percent area median income. All units will be studios, with on-site laundry facilities and a multi-purpose room for residents. On-site social services will be provided through Project Renewal, the existing women’s shelter’s current operator.
The building’s shelter will have 171 beds for single women with psychiatric diagnoses. Shelter residents will have access to laundry rooms, kitchen and dining areas, and occupational therapy rooms. The ground floor of the building will feature a medical clinic serving the whole community. While the existing building has a medical clinic, visitors currently must walk through the shelter to access the clinic, making it virtually inaccessible to the public. Current shelter residents will be moved to permanent housing or shelters close to their support networks before the project commences.
The City Planning Commission previously voted to approve the application on February 16, 2022. To read Cityland’s prior coverage on this application, click here.
At the subcommittee hearing held earlier the same day, Majority Leader Keith Powers, who represents the district where the project will be sited, discussed how this shelter has been serving the community since 1997, and that he hoped the other councilmembers would support the project as well. Majority Leader Powers also noted that it is rare for the community board and the community to come together to support a project as they have done for this project.
The City Council will have a full vote on a later date.
By: Victoria Agosta (Victoria is a CityLaw intern and a New York Law School student, Class of 2022.)
The community did not come together to support this project
There was substantial opposition in the community.