Dear Friends, Neighbors and Advocates,
I wanted to share several important developments regarding the proposed supertall tower at the Independence Plaza site in Tribeca.
Recent filings submitted by Vornado/Stellar on May 4 appear to propose a larger project than many residents previously understood. The filings also raise serious questions about affordable housing, transparency and the developer’s effort to avoid meaningful public review.
Height
The developer’s filings indicate a planned height of more than 1,000 feet. If built, the tower would become the 10th tallest building in New York City and the 17th tallest in the United States. This is taller than what was discussed publicly with Community Board 1 several years ago, before the passage of City of Yes and the recent NYC Charter revisions.
Affordable Housing
The filings claim the project will create 251 “low- to moderate-income units,” potentially offsite. At the same time, the developer represents that there are currently zero affordable units at Independence Plaza. That is highly concerning. Independence Plaza was originally developed as Mitchell-Lama affordable housing. When the landlord exited the Mitchell-Lama program, residents organized and negotiated legally binding protections that preserved affordability for remaining tenants for the rest of their lives.
Today, many long-term residents, most of them seniors, still live in protected affordable apartments at Independence Plaza. Over time, as those residents aged and passed away, units were converted to market-rate housing. More recently, remaining affordable tenants in the buildings slated for demolition were reportedly bought out. The developer’s assertion that there are currently zero affordable units raises serious concerns that replacement apartments it may already be obligated to provide could now be counted toward its advertised total of “new” affordable housing.
At this point, the public still has no transparent accounting showing whether this project would result in a net gain or net loss of affordable housing in Tribeca.
Public Review and Timeline
According to the filings, the developer intends to move forward without going through ULURP or the normal public land use review process. The current timeline anticipates breaking ground by 2028. For a project of this scale and impact, the absence of meaningful public review is extraordinary.
One of the ways the developer appears to have avoided review is through incremental changes carried out over many years. For example, the public school previously located on the site, which the original site plan required, was removed years ago after the developer declined to renew its lease. The filings now state that no school will be displaced. Technically that may be true only because the school was removed long before demolition. The school building currently sits vacant and is expected to be demolished for the tower.
More broadly, the pattern is troubling: affordable tenants disappear one by one, community infrastructure is removed years before construction, buildings sit empty, and then the developer argues there is little remaining impact requiring robust public oversight.
I know many residents have been waiting for clearer information about what is proposed at the site. We will continue sharing updates as we learn more, and we will continue advocating for transparency, accountability, affordability and meaningful community involvement in decisions that permanently affect Tribeca. Thank you for remaining engaged and involved in ensuring that the future of Tribeca is community-informed. The fight is far from over.
You can review the pertinent filing docs here:
In solidarity,
Stephanie Kelemen
President, Community First Development Coalition