Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Sitings and Dispositions · Thursday, June 12, 2025

The one where a parking lot becomes a 28-story all-electric senior tower named for a Community Board 11 legend

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HPD and Urban Builders Collaborative pitched turning the underutilized parking lot of the Casita Park HDFC co-op (Park Ave & E 110th) into the Carmen Villegas Apartments: a 28-story, 210-unit all-affordable senior building in Deputy Speaker Ayala's district. Every unit is backed by NYCHA project-based vouchers, so seniors pay 30% of income; design is geothermal/all-electric with a solar canopy, plus a SAGE LGBTQ facility and HRA senior services. Chair Hanks, asking on Ayala's behalf, pressed on the studio-heavy unit mix; the team defended it citing constrained-site geometry and citywide senior

From the room

“this site was previously um city owned property with several lots that was disposed um through a UDAP action in the year 2000”
— James Jesinkov

“seniors will only pay uh thirty percent of whatever that income is. That income could be zero uh to up to 50 percent of the area median income”
— Matthew Gross

“Lot one was previously conveyed to Ascendant Neighborhood Development through a UDAP in 2000 for the development of a six story residential building”
— James Jesinkov

“propose to rezone the area that is highlighted in the dotted black line to an R91 district and a zoning text amendment to map an MIH area”
— James Jesinkov

The decisions

01LU 0313-2025N 250147 ZRMZoning TextLaid over

Carmen Villegas Apartments – Senior Housing

with 3 related matters · LU 0314-2025 · LU 0315-2025 · LU 0316-2025

Legislation →ULURP case →

Also in the record

Records not linked to a specific agenda item

Land-use review

CB Manhattan CB11

Questions & answers

Kamillah Hanks: Asks for background of the site and why the acquire-then-dispose process was necessary to facilitate development

Kamillah Hanks: Voices displeasure with the disproportionate number of studios in senior buildings; asks whether the SARA term sheet can change to facilitate more one-bedrooms and how HPD justifies the studio-favoring unit mix

unidentified council member (S5): Asks whether the new building is an extension of the existing building on 111th Street and Park (Casita Park)

unidentified council member (S5): Asks whether geothermal is 'free energy' and, given green retrofits often push costs onto fixed-income seniors, what the tenant costs are and whether tenants will see savings in a green all-electric building

unidentified council member (S5): Raises that in his District 9 (across the street) tenants have concerns that some equipment must run 100% of the time while cost-saving advice is to unplug TVs/microwaves; asks what thoughts exist on that

+1 more exchanges

Procedure

Register online at council.nyc.gov/land-use and sign into Zoom to testify remotely — Kamillah Hanks
In-person testifiers fill out a speaker's card with a sergeant — Kamillah Hanks
Written testimony to landusetestimony@council.nyc.gov; include LU number and project name — Kamillah Hanks
Video and audio testimony not accepted; transcripts of recordings may be submitted to the sergeant — Kamillah Hanks

+3 more procedural steps

Where it standsCB Manhattan CB11 ✓→Committee→Full Council

The people

Practitioners & applicants

Kamillah Hanks · James Jesinkov · Nena Lynch

The intelligence

Every parcel, owner, and applicant in this meeting, cross-referenced against Zonable’s NYC ownership, enforcement & legislative graph — the record behind the record.

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Owner portfolios, open OATH/ECB violations, 311 & DOB permits across every parcel discussed, developer track records, and an “ask this meeting” chat.

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