The city wants to transform the headquarters of one of its main housing agencies into housing itself.
The New York City Economic Development Corp. is releasing a request for proposals for developers to purchase and build a mixed-income residential project with more than 1,000 units at 100 Gold St. in Lower Manhattan, according to the agency and a notice that appeared in the city record Wednesday. The 10-story office building is currently home to the headquarters for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, along with offices for other city agencies. These agencies would move before construction on the residential project begins, although officials are still figuring out where their new locations would be.
The city-owned site spans about 95,000 square feet. The request is part of a push to build more housing on publicly-owned land to help reach embattled Mayor Eric Adams’ ambitious goal of building 500,000 new homes in the city over the next 10 years, which he announced in late 2022.
At least 25% of the residential units for 100 Gold St. would need to be affordable, and the project could include commercial space as well. The specific level of affordability and size of the project would be determined during the bidding and land-use review processes, according to the EDC.
In addition to city offices, 100 Gold St. also includes a center for older adults that dates back to the late 1960s. The city will use proceeds from the project to move this center and the city agencies into newer and more modern locations. The winning developer will initially have to lease the building’s office space back to the agencies while officials look to move them.
Proposals will be due by 11:59 p.m. on June 5. No public subsidies will be involved in the process, and city officials expect the developer will need to demolish the property rather than convert it.
The building at 100 Gold St. spans about 656,000 square feet, according to commercial real estate database CoStar. The city purchased it in 1993 for about $36.9 million, property records show.
City and state officials have both made constructing residential projects on publicly-owned land a major priority as they attempt to boost New York’s housing supply. The Adams administration put out a similar RFP for a housing project at the intersection of Surf Avenue and West 21st Street on Coney Island in February, and officials identified multiple sites for residential projects last year as well, including 324 E. Fifth St. in the East Village, 155 E. 173rd St. in the Bronx and 4095 Ninth Ave. in Inwood. The Gold Street project is part of the “Manhattan Plan” Adams announced in this year’s State of the City address, which aims to build 100,000 new homes in the borough over the next decade.
“Addressing New York City’s ongoing housing crisis requires bold strategy and strong partnership,” EDC President and CEO Andrew Kimball said in a statement, “and identifying city-owned sites to transform into state-of-the-art mixed-use buildings is a fundamental piece of this solution.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration put out an RFP on Friday for a residential project at 621 W. 45th St. in Hell’s Kitchen, which is currently a parking lot for the Intrepid Museum. Her administration also announced late last year that it had selected a development team to build a massive project with about 1,400 residential units at 418 11th Ave. near the Jacob Javits Center.
