Penn South

Coordinates: 40°44′52″N 73°59′54″W / 40.74778°N 73.99833°W / 40.74778; -73.99833
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

40°44′52″N 73°59′54″W / 40.74778°N 73.99833°W / 40.74778; -73.99833

29th Streets, in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The complex has 2,820 units in ten 22-story buildings. Penn South is so named because of its location southwest of New York Penn Station
.

History

Planning

Penn South was sponsored by the

Abraham Kazan, later called the preservation a "mistake" because it had prevented Penn South from being developed earlier.[7]

The site of Penn Station South was eligible for federal funding under the Title I of the Housing Act of 1949. The site was slated for demolition in July 1959. Despite this announcement, one developer started renovating three tenement buildings three months before their scheduled demolition date, in the hopes that these buildings would also be granted exemptions from demolition.[10] In early June 1959, the federal government allocated $12 million toward the project.[11]

The ILGWU acquired title to the land that June 28 and immediately began relocating residents.[12] Residents who already lived on the land filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block the land sale.[13] Groups of residents also organized picket lines and filed affidavits that attested to the hardships caused due to their relocations.[14] In another act of protest, tenants living in the future Penn South site withheld rent payments to the ILGWU, their new landlord.[15] The relocation proceedings were tense: one attorney who represented the protesters received death threats in response to his involvements in the protests.[16] After Manhattan Borough President Hulan Jack received a report about "harrowing" relocations that were done in preparation for Penn Station South, Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. instituted new rules for Title I relocations around the city.[17] Some former residents alleged that they had been relocated into tenements.[18] Jack created a Citizens Watchdog Committee to oversee the treatment of residents who were being relocated. However, the committee itself disagreed on whether tenants were being treated unfairly during the relocation process.[19] The committee was disbanded in December 1959 due to an inability to resolve these disagreements.[20]

Ultimately, the vast majority of residents moved peacefully. By October 1960, all 2,646 families who had lived on the site had been relocated; they had received bonuses of up to $500, as well as a guarantee of new housing.[21] In addition, as part of an agreement between the ILGWU and the site's residents, 600 of the families who had formerly occupied the site would be given housing in Penn South.[22]

Construction

SVA Theater.[29]

Construction was delayed in July 1961 by a month-long strike by concrete-mixing workers. By that time, the ILGWU had hoped to complete and sell half of the apartments in Penn South, but were only able to find tenants for a quarter of the apartments.[22]

A dedication ceremony was held on May 19, 1962. President

Carver Federal Savings and Loan Association, an African-American-run bank, opened a branch in Penn South in 1963, marking the first time that an African-American-run bank had been allowed to operate in a non-African-American neighborhood in New York City.[34]

Later years

The opening of Penn Station South spurred new development and

HVAC system in 2011.[36]

Penn South Building 7

Building 7 of the complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. Apartment 9J in the B portion of the building had been home to civil and gay rights activist Bayard Rustin from 1962 until his death in 1987.[37]

Notable residents

  • David Graeber, anthropologist, activist, and author; lived there from 1961 to the 2010s[38]
  • Bayard Rustin, civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights activist; lived there from 1962 to 1987[39]

Description

Penn South contains 2,820 units in ten 22-story red-brick buildings numbered from 1 to 10.[40][41] The site is bounded counterclockwise from the west by Ninth Avenue, 23rd Street, Eighth Avenue, and 29th Street, and occupies an area of 36.44 acres (14.75 ha).[24] The buildings were designed by Herman Jessor.[40]

Each housing unit has between 2 and 6 rooms.[41] Penn South's desirability among prospective tenants has increased over the years: adjusted for inflation, the average cost of purchase was $650 per room in 1962, and it rose to $2,295 per room in 1983.[25] As of 2012, there were 6,000 names on a waiting list of prospective residents looking to purchase one of the units in the development.[41] In 2014, Penn South's management opened up a lottery system in which it randomly distributed some vacant apartments to applicants who met specified criteria.[42] Nearly 50,000 people applied for 1,200 vacant apartments.[43]

Although the residents of Penn South were generally lower- to middle-class, they were also known as a group that was "rich in spirit".

1975 New York City fiscal crisis, residents prepaid their rents six months in advance so the nearly bankrupt New York City government would be able to use the funds.[44] Additionally, Penn South was among the first cooperative developments in New York City to draw power from gas, at a time when most other developments paid four times as much money to consume power from oil-powered generators.[25] The possibility of Penn South generating its own power had been proposed as early as 1960, before the development had opened, due to disagreements with utility provider Consolidated Edison over electricity rates.[45] The co-op was providing much of its own power, heating, and air-cooling by 1986.[36]

Seen from 26th Street

Penn South is served by the M20 bus operating on

Penn Station, Chelsea Market, Chelsea Piers, and the Hudson River Park.[47] The northern section of Penn South is located across from Chelsea Park on Ninth Avenue between 27th and 28th Streets.[47] PS 33, a public school, is located just south of the park.[48]

Tax abatements

During Penn South's planning, the United Housing Foundation faced opposing demands. The mostly low-income families who already lived on the site wanted Penn South to have lower rent rates so that they could continue living in the area. Simultaneously, another proposed UHF development in Coney Island, Brooklyn, was being challenged by developer Fred Trump, who promised to pay higher tax rates on the Coney Island site than the UHF would.[49]

To help keep Penn South affordable to those with limited incomes, New York City gave the development a 25-year tax abatement between 1961 and 1986. Taxes on properties in Penn South were levied at the same rates as on the older buildings they replaced.

Mitchell-Lama housing. In return, the development must remain a limited-equity cooperative until 2022. Under the terms of agreements reached with the City of New York in 2002, and separately with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Penn South's eligibility for tax abatements offered by Mitchell-Lama was extended to 2052.[36] Penn South shareholders voted in 2011 to extend its contract with the city until 2030; in return, the city government awarded the co-op more than $25 million to rehabilitate the complex's HVAC system.[36] In February 2017, the New York City Council extended Penn South's tax abatement to 2052, ninety years after the development's opening.[50]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "About" on the Penn South website. Accessed:2011-03-10 Archived December 22, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  3. . Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  4. . Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  5. . Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  6. . Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  7. ^ . Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  8. ^ "Holy Apostles' Long and Varied History". NY Press. April 4, 2016. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  9. ^ "National Register Information System – Church of the Holy Apostles (#72000867)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  10. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved May 28, 2018.
  11. . Retrieved May 28, 2018.
  12. . Retrieved May 28, 2018.
  13. . Retrieved May 28, 2018.
  14. . Retrieved May 28, 2018.
  15. . Retrieved May 28, 2018.
  16. ^ "Mayor Getting Bellevue South Tenants' Plan" (PDF). New York Post. August 30, 1959. p. 9. Retrieved May 28, 2018 – via Fultonhistory.com.
  17. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved May 28, 2018.
  18. ^ "Charge Project Relocates Tenants Into Slums—Sponsors Deny It" (PDF). New York Post. August 9, 1959. p. 25. Retrieved May 28, 2018 – via Fultonhistory.com.
  19. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved May 28, 2018.
  20. . Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  21. . Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  22. ^ . Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  23. . Retrieved May 28, 2018.
  24. ^ . Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  25. ^ a b c d e f Malinconico, Joseph (June 5, 1983). "PENN SOUTH MARKING 2 DECADES OF SUCCESS". The New York Times. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  26. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  27. . Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  28. ^ "RKO First In Face-Lifting Projects" (PDF). Brooklyn Daily. February 15, 1963. p. 18. Retrieved May 28, 2018 – via Fultonhistory.com.
  29. ^ Elkies, Lauren (March 31, 2008). "Cinematic changes on West 23rd Street: Theater leased by School of Visual Arts". The Real Deal. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  30. ^ "Penn South – Rising to the Challenge". AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust. December 2, 2011. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  31. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  32. . Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  33. . Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  34. ^ Robinson, Layhmond (May 11, 1963). "Negro Savings and Loan to Open First Unit Outside Negro Area". The New York Times. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  35. ^ Kenney, Ted (December 9, 1990). "If You're Thinking of Living in: Chelsea". The New York Times. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  36. ^ a b c d e History, Penn South. Accessed September 1, 2017. "In April 2011 Penn South cooperators again voted in an advisory referendum to extend the contract with the City for an additional 8 years of tax abatement to 2030. In exchange, the City agreed to a package of over $25 million in financial aid to Penn South to help fund the replacement of the heating, ventilating, and air cooling system (HVAC). Most recently, to secure a $189 million refinance with HUD, Penn South shareholders voted to extend our contract for 22 additional years, through 2052."
  37. ^ "NRHP nomination for Bayard Rustin Residence" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  38. ^ Roberts, Sam (September 4, 2020). "David Graeber, Caustic Critic of Inequality, Is Dead at 59". The New York Times. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  39. ^ "Bayard Rustin Residence". NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  40. ^ ., p. 188
  41. ^ a b c d Buckley, Cara (April 19, 2011). "Soul-Searching at a Defiantly Affordable Co-op". The New York Times. Retrieved September 1, 2017. Founded by a labor union in 1962, Penn South has 2,820 units scattered over six blocks, still charges rock-bottom prices and once was so left-leaning that resident Communists pilloried resident Socialists.... The complex, which was sponsored by the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union and is formally known as the Mutual Redevelopment Houses, is one of the last of a breed of New York co-ops built for the working class.... Some 6,000 people are on the now-closed waiting list, and if history is any indication, many will die before getting in.
  42. ^ Katz, Mathew (July 23, 2014). "Buy a Chelsea Apartment for Just $64K by Hitting Penn South Lottery". DNAinfo New York. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  43. ^ Katz, Mathew (August 12, 2014). "Up to 50,000 People Applied for Cheap Chelsea Apartments, Officials Say". DNAinfo New York. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  44. ^ Daniels, Lee A. (June 3, 1983). "ABOUT REAL ESTATE; WHEN CO-OPS IN CITY DECIDE TO PAY OFF THE MORTGAGE". The New York Times. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  45. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  46. ^ "Manhattan Bus Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. July 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  47. ^ a b "MTA Neighborhood Maps: neighborhood". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  48. ^ Edwards and Kelcey Engineers (1989). "Manhattan General Mail Facility: Environmental Impact Statement". p. IV-228. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  49. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  50. ^ Stiffler, Scott (February 2, 2017). "City Council Extends Penn South Tax Abatement Through 2052". chelseanow.com. Retrieved May 30, 2018.

External links