Parking garages eyed as affordable housing

In this densely packed city, two types of real estate reign supreme: affordable housing and a good parking spot.

Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, a Democrat who represents Manhattan Valley, is currently working with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to bring both to the neighborhood in a preliminary plan that would create affordable housing units out of three parking garages on108th Street, while also preserving the number of parking spots currently on site.

At a recent Community Board 7 meeting, Mark-Viverito said that she had been in contact with the housing department, CB7, and the Westside Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing to discuss these three garage sites between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues to formulate a plan that conserves spaces and creates “desperately needed affordable housing.”

But according to Ede Fox, legislative director at Mark-Viverito’s office, they are far from construction.

“This is all still in the talking stage. No agreements or decisions have been made yet,” she said, adding that her office and the housing department would not make any announcements until January or February 2010.

Fox said that her office is also looking into plans to possibly sell the city-owned garages to the parking garage operators.

HRF Operating Corp, the company that operates two of the five-story garages, and E & B Operating Corp, the company that operates the third, did not return calls.

According to Peter Arndtsen, district manager of the Columbus Amsterdam Business Improvement District, in 2003 the housing department initiated a similar plan to demolish the three garages and build housing units in their place, while tunneling below ground to preserve the parking spaces. He said it backed down after a heated CB7 meeting full of car-owners indicated that they did not want the garages to go, even if only temporarily.

Since they are owned by the city, those three parking garages are cheaper than others in the area.

Last May, Mark-Vivierito held a meeting with the housing department, members of CB7, and the Westside Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing. Currently, a transitional house sits in between the two garages, but Laura Gervis, executive director of the agency, said that if the plan goes forward, housing in the area would probably be for seniors.

Residents in the area agreed that Manhattan Valley is in dire need of more affordable housing.

“That’s a good idea,” nearby resident Marquez Aroldo said when he was told of the proposed project. “Most of the neighbors park in the street anyway. I don’t know who parks ... [in those structures],” he added.

CB7 has come out in support of a plan that will create housing and preserve parking.

“The bottom line is: some folks would like to see the garages maintained, as low-cost parking is rapidly disappearing from the community,” Andrew Albert, co-chair of CB7’s transportation committee, said in an e-mail. “Then, there are some folks who would like to see housing in their place, as there is a shortage of affordable housing in the community.”