Manhattan Community Board 10 on Wednesday night voted 19-10 to advise rejecting a 968-unit apartment complex on West 145th Street and Lenox Avenue, the latest setback for a developer in a years-long battle for local support.

“This was a very difficult, very detailed project to review, and there were a lot of debates.” Karen Dixon, CB10 Land Use Committee chair told more than 100 attendees at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building, and dozens more who tuned in virtually.

Dixon noted the board’s land-use committee had just voted 16-7 on Jan. 29 to approve the project dubbed One45 for Harlem — with several “conditions.” 

Those conditions included: reducing the height of the buildings to 28 stories from 34; increasing the amount of community space; a commitment to have half of building employees be Harlem residents; outlining measurable goals for youth programs; and adopting a legally binding and enforceable community benefits agreement.

“The community benefits that were proposed by the development team did not really have much specificity. It lacked measurable goals. It didn’t give you targets,” said Dixon, who nevertheless voted to approve the proposal with the conditions.

Board secretary Brianna McClure, who voted against the One45 project, meanwhile asked,  “What benefit do these community benefits — the MWBE and the youth centers — what justice does that do us if in the future, parents can’t afford to live here and, therefore, the children can’t live here?”

Delsenia Glover, second vice chair of the board,  also voted against it, saying, “This is not an affordable housing plan, it’s a gentrification plan.”

Read More: The City