The judge’s decision means NYCHA and private-market partner Related Cos. could have to push back their $2 billion plan to redevelop the Fulton and Elliot-Chelsea Houses, a 2,056-apartment complex situated between Hudson Yards and the Meatpacking District. Work is scheduled to begin by year-end and would involve replacing all public housing and adding 1,000 affordable and 2,500 market-rate units to the campus. Civic officials hope the project will serve as a model for rehabilitating public housing across the city.
But a handful of holdouts stand in the way because they don’t want to move out of their building that’s reserved for the elderly. NYCHA has filed lawsuits in New York state Supreme Court against 18 residents, arguing they have violated the terms of their leases and alternative public housing is available to them. At a hearing Thursday, Judge David Cohen refused to grant NYCHA’s request for an order requiring the senior to move.
Cohen didn’t rule on the merits of NYCHA’s case but described its legal tactics as “completely inappropriate.” He noted it’s difficult for the elderly to move and asked NYCHA lawyers who made the decision to sue residents in their 80s and 90s.
NYCHA said it is reviewing the judge’s decision and “may elect to pursue other avenues of legal proceedings against these residents for them to relocate.”
The elderly residents have refused to move out of their homes because they say familiar surroundings are important to them. Some are in poor health.
NYCHA’s options now include continuing to fight in court, nudging elderly residents to move to alternative public housing, or revising redevelopment plans for Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea. The housing authority has proposed this winter to knock down the building for seniors, called Chelsea Addition.
Last month Attorney General Letitia James, U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and three other elected officials asked NYCHA to halt relocation proceedings. NYCHA said it would proceed because tenants have waited years for redevelopment to begin.
About 75 Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea residents or supporters filled Judge Cohen’s courtroom for Thursday’s hearing. After the judge refused NYCHA’s request for an injunction that would let the demolition proceed, a person in attendance said the crowd burst into applause.
Source: Crains