Possibly checking in to the former Park Savoy Hotel will be 140 homeless individuals.  The Mayor’s office has plans for a homeless shelter, and a state Appellate Division denied a motion by opponents to extend a temporary injunction that placed a roadblock on the shelter in May, according to The Wall Street Journal. 
 
The project is continuing as of mid-June when the state Appellate Division’s First Judicial Department vacated the temporary relief granted by the court last month.  A group of neighborhood residents, who have formed the West 58th Street Coalition, filed the lawsuit against the city last July.  The group plans to appeal the recent ruling.
 
The former Park Savoy Hotel, and soon to possibly be shelter, is located right behind the pricey One57 condo building, which was formerly known as Carnegie 57 and nicknamed "The Billionaire Building".  
 
According to the group’s lawsuit, the building goes against city fire and safety regulations because there is only one way to enter and exit. Currently, buildings need at least two means of egress. It looks like the group might need another legal track as that’s not a problem for buildings built before 1910.  The city has said that this building is not required to comply with the current regulation and the FDNY did approve the building’s Fire Protection Plan.
 
Suzanne Silverstein, president of the West 58th Street Coalition, told the WSJ that all city projects should be up to code. She said that “anything the city sponsors should be at a higher level of safety, because the people they’re putting in there are already at a disadvantage.” (That does make sense…)
 
“With yet another court affirming the City’s need for these crucial beds and determination that the shelter is safe, this is another victory for common sense and compassion,” Isaac McGinn, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Homeless Services, told Curbed in a statement. “We look forward to opening our doors to hard-working neighbors in need at this location as soon as possible—and will continue to work with the community to ensure our clients are embraced and supported as neighbors.”
 
This project is part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Turning the Tide plan which hopes to be focused on supporting 140 homeless individuals who are currently employed or looking for employment.
 

Yup, you read the headline right.  Seniors will be moving into the new hot spot in NYC at a mega-development north of Hudson Yards. Leading the way are former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and New York City-based Related Companies. 
 
The project is a mixed-use high-rise which will include a 44-story tower at 451 10th Avenue at 35th Street.  According to The Real Deal, who cited plans pre-filed last week with New York City’s Department of Buildings (DOB), the site would potentially include 126 long-term care facility dwelling units.  The filed documents do not reveal what levels of care would be provided in the senior housing units or identify any senior living operator involved.
 
Some can speculate that Louisville-based Atria Senior Living might be the operator, since they have a relationship with Related.  Atria also recently announced a joint venture to develop a $3 billion pipeline of urban senior housing, with a project in San Francisco topping the list.
 
Hudson Yards is an exciting place for eminent domain, real estate, and tourism, and is the largest private real estate development in the history of the United States.  (As they say in the Big Apple: GO BIG OR GO HOME!)
 
Hudson Yards opened to the public on March 15, 2019 and includes: a 1-million-square-foot retail center with shops and dining; public parks and gathering spaces; multifamily housing; offices; and hotels.  (Our own personal note is that if you haven’t been there yet, make sure you make time for a visit.  It is free to climb the Vessel, but make sure you get a timed ticket first.)
 
In addition to the senior housing units proposed for floors 5 through 12, the mixed-use site calls for Class A apartments on upper floors, with retail, food and drink establishments, and amenity spaces such as a yoga room listed for the lower floors. (Sign me up, grandma!)
 
This is not the first or only other senior living project.  Currently in NYC, real estate developer Hines and real estate investment trust Welltower (NYSE: WELL) are making plans.   Then we have Maplewood Senior Living and Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE: OHI) who are partnered on an NYC high-rise called Inspir.   Move over hipsters, and even Brooklyn, because there is senior sizzle.  Kayne Anderson Real Estate Advisors (KAREA) and Watermark Retirement are revamping an existing building for senior living.
 
Why focus on seniors?  As the Atria CEO, John Moore, said at the Senior Housing News’ BUILD event in Chicago: the cooling of the residential real estate market and pent-up demand in areas that have long been underserved by senior housing are driving the development. 
 
Although there is lots of eminent domain happening in Hudson Yards (see our other posts) we are happy to see that Seniors will not be left out of the newest development boom.

​No doubt about it, the City seems to be expanding and gentrifying with each blink of an eye.  As the second phase of the Second Avenue subway line is in the works – and keep in mind that it’s not expected to be completed for another ten years – investors, developers and residents are making plans.  The plan, which has been in the works for a long time, is an extension of the Q train from East 96th Street to East 125th Street.
 
Developers quickly bought parcels along the route, and the City is organizing larger-scale projects, from East 125th Street to East 127th Street (aka E125) where the subway will terminate at a new station between Park and Lexington Avenues.
 
What is being planned?  Reports say that private developers and the City will create 1,000 mixed-income housing units and up to 700,000 square feet of commercial space.  That’s according to the City Economic Development Corp. 
 
There’s even plans for affordable housing.  Part of E125 will be One East Harlem, a 404-unit apartment building that is expected to have 297 affordable units, plus retail and cultural space. The project recently broke ground at East 125th and Third Avenue in late April 2019.
 
It will also be a hub of interest with The New York Proton Center which opened in June 2019.  In case you haven’t heard of it, it is the State's first proton-beam cancer therapy facility.  The facility is large and will take up much of East 126th street between Second and Third avenues.
 
Meanwhile, private developers including Blumenfeld Development Corp., the Durst Organization and Extell Development Co. are making their marks.  They either have the potential to build big around the future subway terminus or have started already. Landlords such as Lloyd Goldman and Thor Equities reportedly have bought in the area in recent years.
 
These changes and developments often have residents weary, and this case is no different.  The group We Act for Environmental Justice worked with community organizations and representatives from the local community board and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer's office on a report.  The report focused on the impact of the subway and a late 2017 rezoning of several blocks of East Harlem to allow for denser development.
 
The April report said the "dramatic wave of new development" spurred by the subway and the rezoning "will likely result in inequitable growth, compound social and environmental challenges, and accelerate the decades-long trend toward gentrification and displacement in the neighborhood."
 
To most of us this is no great surprise.  It is often the pattern that people get priced out, bought out, served with eminent domain notices, and/or just move out.  Florida anyone?