In October, CFDC President Stephanie Kelemen sent a letter to Mayor Zohran Mamdani requesting a meeting about the proposed redevelopment of Independence Plaza. The letter outlines the complex’s loss of affordable housing and calls for protections for existing tenants, substantial permanently affordable housing on the site, and meaningful public review of the developers’ plans. As of publication, CFDC is awaiting a response from the Mayor’s office. Read the full letter below to learn more about our concerns and the action we are seeking.

Dear Mayor Mamdani:

I write on behalf of the Community First Development Coalition (CFDC), a Tribeca 501(c)(3) that advocates for permanently affordable housing and responsible development, to request a meeting about Vornado Realty Trust and Stellar Management’s proposed redevelopment of Independence Plaza. This would be Tribeca’s largest development—a 1,090-foot, 72-story tower and three lower buildings—and the tower would be among the tallest in both New York City and the United States. Our central concern is affordability: a site created to provide more than 1,300 affordable homes is being transformed into a luxury enclave, while the developer seeks credit for a fraction of the housing opportunities that have been lost.

History of Independence Plaza

Independence Plaza’s apartment towers and townhouses stand on Greenwich Street in western Tribeca, on land the City assembled through eminent domain as part of the Washington Street Urban Renewal Plan. Built in 1974 under Mitchell-Lama, New York’s affordable-housing program, the complex provided approximately 1,330 apartments, all affordable. The site also housed P.S. 150, a public elementary school. Although the urban renewal plan expired in January 2002, these homes and the school continued to serve the community.

Stellar purchased the complex in 2003 and chose to leave Mitchell-Lama to permit market-rate rentals. After a dispute with the Independence Plaza North Tenant Association, a March 12, 2004 settlement preserved rent protections for qualifying existing tenants through Section 8 enhanced vouchers and the Landlord Assistance Program, with certain family succession rights. The complex formally left Mitchell-Lama on June 28, 2004. Vornado acquired a majority ownership stake in December 2012.

Over the ensuing years, longtime residents have died or moved away, and residents report that Vornado and Stellar have bought others out, including tenants in the proposed redevelopment area. Hundreds of formerly affordable apartments have become high-end, market-rate rentals. Among the original residents who remain are elderly New Yorkers who endured September 11, 2001, just blocks from the World Trade Center, many still living with related illness and trauma. P.S. 150 also relocated to the Financial District after Vornado sought to end its tenancy; its former premises are now slated to make way for the proposed development.

The Proposed Development

Vornado and Stellar propose to demolish former P.S. 150 and 45 previously-affordable homes and build a 1,090-foot, 72-story tower and three lower buildings, with an undisclosed number of new market-rate apartments and 251 proposed affordable units. Vornado and Stellar have represented that the 251 proposed low- to moderate-income units will likely be provided offsite, potentially outside Tribeca altogether. A development of this magnitude could therefore leave Tribeca with no new affordable homes, even as the owners demolish 45 previously-affordable homes and build a luxury tower. The proposal offers no commitment to replace the affordable housing removed from this neighborhood.

Stellar and Vornado laid the groundwork for this project over many years by converting formerly affordable apartments into high-end rentals and, residents report, buying out protected tenants. The resulting loss of affordability reflects deliberate choices by the owners. The complex once provided approximately 1,330 affordable homes; the 251 units now proposed amount to less than one-fifth of that original total. Even if all 251 were newly created affordable homes, they would not reverse the complex’s cumulative net loss of affordable housing.

Despite Independence Plaza’s documented history of regulated affordability—and continuing contractual protections for some original tenants—Vornado and Stellar stated in a recent public filing that the proposed development site contains no existing affordable units. The filing’s claim of zero existing affordable units on the development site must be understood against that history of conversions and buyouts, and it is demonstrably false. Across Independence Plaza, more than 100 residents still rely on Section 8 subsidies or the Landlord Assistance Program. The City must identify which protected tenants remain in the redevelopment area, account for those who left or accepted buyouts before the filing, and ensure that those who remain are protected. It must also determine whether the 251 proposed units would be new, permanently affordable homes or merely the preservation of existing units. The owners should not be allowed to present this project as an affordable-housing gain by ignoring the affordability they have already taken away.

The market-rate plans are equally unclear. Environmental filings model a maximum of 967 new apartments; that ceiling is not a commitment to build a particular number of new homes. Given Tribeca’s ultra-luxury condominium market, we expect large apartments marketed to wealthy buyers, including purchasers of second homes, or pieds-à-terre. Nearby 56 Leonard has 145 residences and 111 Murray Street has 157. Based on comparable towers, CFDC estimates that an ultra-luxury project of this scale may yield little more than 200 new market-rate apartments. The developers should disclose their intended apartment count, sizes, and whether the homes will be rentals or condominiums so the public can assess what this project would actually deliver.

Why City Hall Must Act Now

The developers describe the project as “as-of-right,” apart from a modification of the existing site plan. They seek to proceed outside the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), the City’s formal land-use review process, by treating this enormous redevelopment as a “minor modification.” Their filing anticipates approvals by mid-2027, followed by six months of demolition and construction beginning in early 2028. On that timetable, demolition could begin in less than a year. The opportunity to secure meaningful public review and enforceable protections is now.

The City’s response will set a precedent for other developments on land assembled with public power and support. An expired urban renewal plan should not become a license to maximize private profit while its public benefits disappear. That would be a reverse Robin Hood: public investment creating private wealth as working families lose access to the neighborhood. In Tribeca, the decisions made now will shape socioeconomic diversity for generations. Affordable homes give working families and seniors access to the same schools, parks, and services as their wealthier neighbors. Losing those homes without replacing them locally would deepen segregation and permanently diminish who can afford to live here.

We ask you to meet promptly with CFDC, together with your housing and planning teams, before approvals and demolition foreclose better outcomes. We seek a full accounting of affordability lost and retained, protection for existing tenants, substantial permanently affordable housing on the site, and meaningful public review of the proposed approval route. New Yorkers deserve to know how this project will advance your administration’s affordability goals and honor the public investment that made Independence Plaza possible.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Kelemen, Esq.
President, Community First Development Coalition