By Gus Saltonstall
A 146-bed, single-women’s homeless shelter is expected to open during the fall of 2024 on the Upper West Side in the former home of a private school, according to City Councilmember Gale Brewer’s office and the Department of Social Services.
The shelter will open at 160 West 74th Street, between Amsterdam and Columbus avenues, a more than century-old building that formerly served as the Calhoun School’s lower school.
“This facility will provide 146 single adult women experiencing homelessness with safety, security, social services, and support in finding and securing employment,” reads a letter sent to Brewer’s office by the Department of Social Services. “We expect that many of the residents at this shelter will have roots in this community and the Manhattan area more broadly.”
The nonprofit service provider for the shelter will be Volunteers of America – Greater New York. The nonprofit states its vision is “to end homelessness in the New York area by 2050 by providing housing, health and wealth-building services to our neighbors who are experiencing, or are at imminent risk of, homelessness.”
A Community Advisory Board that includes local residents will also be formed for the shelter, which will hold regular meetings and have direct lines of communication between the staff and neighborhood.
The building at 160 West 74th Street wasn’t initially expected to become a shelter when the school sold the 127-year-old property for $14 million to the investment firm Bayrock Capital this summer. At the time of sale, the investment company said that it would be converting the five-story property into a residential building.
The building is within the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District, and thus retains a level of landmark status.
West Side Rag will work to gather more details about the incoming shelter.
Thanks Irini Kimura for the tip.
UPDATE: Monday, 5:50 p.m.: Councilmember Gale Brewer shared a letter with the Rag that she sent to the Department of Homeless Services on Monday. The letter reads as follows:
“I write regarding the planned opening of a shelter at 160 W. 74th Street in my district. I was informed by your office that it will house 146 single adult women with an anticipated opening of fall 2024.
According to published reports, the building at 160 W. 74th Street (a former schoolhouse) was sold to the private equity firm Bayrock Capital this year for $14 million to develop high-end residences. I am curious how the building wound up as a shelter instead, and with what terms? To that end, please send my office a copy of the lease as well as background information on the site selection.”
West Side Rag has also reached out to the Department of Social Services asking for the lease between Bayrock Capital and the city.
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Please stop with the endless homeless, immigrant, and mental health centers on the UWS. This family neighborhood is rapidly becoming the South Bronx.
There’s enough money and property on the upper west side to take care of people . No need for the complaining , you’ll still be able to go to your restaurants and shop at your boutiques, while going home to your expensive apartments . The fact I need to bring these up is a testament to how out of place we are with our thinking
In more rural areas they are in desperate need of people to work in warehouses, do construction, etc. And they need people to work in fast food and other establishments to serve these people. You can build very cheap housing in these areas.
I am not advocating for shipping them out and forgetting about them. All of the bleeding hearts are so focused on those who are “down on their luck” and “ready to work.” Well, let’s move them to where the jobs are. We all don’t get to live exactly where we want to. During the depression countless men left their families in NY to do work in mines, mills, and construction far from NY to pay the bills. Was it fun? No. But they did what they had to do.
But you ARE advocating “shipping them out.”
Before you start touting migration during Great Depression, you might want to read or reread The Grapes of Wrath. “okies keep driving.. don’t stop here.”
Four community districts have ZERO shelter beds
Staten Island Community District 3 (South Shore);
Brooklyn Community District 10 (Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights);
Brooklyn Community District 11 (Bensonhurst, Bath Beach); and
Bronx Community District 11 (Pelham Parkway, Morris Park).
Oh! That explains the constant development of luxury housing all over the neighborhood.
Thanks!
I agree with you!!! We need more luxury restaurants luxury shopping and luxury condos in this neighborhood ….. we don’t want a woman’s shelter we don’t want a migrant shelter …. Shut this down!!
The South Bronx is home to many families.
You’re full of it. Go to the South Bronx before you make such a suggestion
Yikes
There are families in the South Bronx.
That’s exactly why they’re placing them in your neighborhood now. South Bronx have there share of shelters
It’s pretty surprising that an investor group can make more money from a homeless shelter than creating housing.
Not surprising at all. Before the pandemic the city spend $3B per year averaging about 60,000 housed homeless people a day.
That is $4k per person per month. Now with the influx of immigrants the number of housed homeless people has doubled and the city spends as much as $10k person per month.
What I find surprising is this focus on “fairness” when it should really be what is cost effective.
Maybe there was an opportunity for them to reduce their tax burden built into this deal. Altruistic and self-serving, all at once.
Are you kidding me with this?
Why is our neighborhood the epicenter for so many shelters?
According to the Comptroller’s Report on “Fair Share” usage, the UWS has about 10 shelter beds per 1000 resident population, the UES has 3 beds/1000, Midtown/Flatiron has 91 beds/1000, etc. Wouldn’t include new or not-opened facilities, but check out the interactive maps:
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/0bb62803d9d44ade81f16de2cdc378e4
Way cool to add to the congestion, chaos, and non-stop drug scene in precisely thar area.
Way to pass judgement. There are plenty of folks who are housed who add to all of the above. Maybe stop putting up ultra luxury buildings where expat oligarchs can hide their money
The volume of shelters and contracts granted on the UWS is getting really odd. The concentration isn’t good for anyone. And all these tax breaks for the companies behind these contract deals, when the state is already in a major hole with the illegal migrant crisis, is going to fall on taxpayers.
Gale Brewer raised her hand again.
What are the number of shelters on the UWS versus the UES? Where would this information be available?
There are none on UES. They don’t have crazy Gale Brewer
There are a few shelters on UES.
East 81st between Third and Second avenues.
East 77th between Third and Second avenues.
Bentley Hotel at York and East 62nd
https://www.ncsinc.org/housing/ncs-res
Wow. Three. THREE
Not completely true, though UWS far outweigh UES https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/0bb62803d9d44ade81f16de2cdc378e4
It is available, and there are shelters on the UES, and one has nothing to do with the other. NYC is a big place. The only question should be who is allowing it to repeatedly happen on the UWS.
The difference is Julie Menin represents the UES and she represents the residents of the community and what is best for their neighborhood
The difference is that the UWS had many more SROs and other buildings readily converted to these purposes. Would you prefer they had remained SROs?
Well if Ed Koch had his way what was left of SROs would be gone. He turned a blind eye while his real estate buddies brutally and harshly “evicted” or otherwise emptied out SRO hotels so they could create luxury housing.
On another note study after study not just in NY but other places as well concludes root of “affordable housing” crisis comes in good part from local governments banning SRO hotels.
https://www.curbed.com/2021/06/sro-hotels-nyc-bring-back.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_room_occupancy#Conditions
https://slate.com/business/2013/07/sros-flophouses-microapartments-smart-cities-are-finally-allowing-the-right-kind-of-housing-for-the-poor-young-and-single.html
Yes, some of the old SRO hotels were horrible, but there also were plenty of clean, safe and affordable places.
Many of the homeless in NYC and elsewhere aren’t exactly totally destitute. They work, have income from pensions, Social Security or disability checks and so forth. They cannot afford full apartments but could swing a room in a “boarding house” or SRO.
P.S.
NYS has just announced about $50 million in funding will be available for owners of S.R.O hotels to renovate and make units available.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/12/nyregion/new-york-sro-apartments.html
When I worked in an SRO, many maybe most of the residents were people who had regular jobs. Nothing about them said ‘SRO’ as they went to and from the subway on their daily commutes.
This is absolutely ridiculous. I live across the street with my wife. We do not pay $5000 a month in rent to live across the street from a shelter. You better believe we will be raising hell about this.
I notice that there are a whole lot of very vocal supporters of the homeless, “tax the rich”, anti-development voices on this thread. But although they’re vocal, I also notice that there seem to be more upvotes for the comments that express concern for the growing homeless population on the UWS and the lack of concern for those who live here and pay for it. Those complaining about the “audacity” of those making these types of comments should take a moment to appreciate that these voices are the silent majority.
Is that the same Silent Majority that just re-elected Gale Brewer with 82% vote?
Entitled much? Would you rather have 146 homeless women living out on the street around your $5000 rental than in decent housing where they can receive social services including employment opportunities?
Not one of our street homeless has gone to West 83rd street shelter as they promised.
So now we have MORE homeless in the neighborhood, mentally ill, and folks using drugs openly, shooting up on the street.
Have you walked by West 83rd? Seen the shooting up? The needles left behind?
Why isn’t 74th PERMANENT housing for families to use the two close public schools?
That is what the homeless and the neighborhood needs – not transient in/out all day?
Street homeless is a difficult issue to solve ever since (if you’ll pardon phrasing) mentally ill received “rights”. Or more to point could not have same rights as anyone else arbitrarily taken away.
Mentally ill who have all sorts of issues ranging from developmental to psychological disorders cannot simply be put away against their will.
It does at times break one’s heart to see persons out on street who need and deserve to be housed safely. But what can city or state really do?
Such persons often lack mental or developmental capacity to consent to being housed. They cannot be forced into same against their will except under clear and strict situations that often come with time limits. No judge and few doctors nowadays will sign off on involuntary commitment for even a short period, you can forget being shut away for life as in days of old.
State school system of old was often horrible, but there were some bright spots. The alternative to one’s mind of leaving these people to fend for themselves on streets however is equally cruel.
You must be new here. The UWS has ten million dollar condos next door to affordable housing and even more expensive housing within a block or two of NYCHA projects.
That’s a choice to say this out loud
What you thought you were living on Park Place or Boardwalk?
Between Columbus and Amsterdam not fancy enough for you?
Does living across the street from some poor people really bother you that much?
Well said Brandon!!
What a load of rubbish these privileged and truly ignorant idiots are for downing people who’ve sadly found themselves in difficult circumstances …Sure doesn’t sound like the UWS vibe I’ve always lived in and loved and respected forever!
This is awful. Another senseless project by Gale Brewer that will waste billions of taxpayer dollars by placing homeless shelters in one of the most expensive areas in NYC. Brewer with her desire to turn our once beautiful neighborhood into a homeless-junkie-illegal-immigrant paradise drove thousands of people away from UWS. People can’t afford rents here any longer, but homeless and illegal immigrants can live in luxury thanks to Brewer.
From Gail Brewers comments above, it seems she’s investigating why it was supposed to be luxury housing and now it’s going to be a shelter of sorts..
By the way women in trouble for out of funds are not a deterrent to a neighborhood. Prejudice is a deterrent to any neighborhood. Let’s rein it in and not prejudge.
Get your terms correct. You somehow think a school conversion means luxury? Undocumented migrants are not being housed in shelters. Asylee applicants might be. But they wouldn’t be in this facility. But if you don’t like Brewer, vote her out of office.
How did this happen so fast? Did it go before the community board? Any chance for neighborhood residents to provide comments and feedback?
Don’t see how this is a good use of taxpayers money as UWS real estate is expensive and their are 4 other boroughs where land/buildings are much cheaper.
You somehow don’t think the rest of the city gets more shelters?
No they do not.
We have more beds/population than the East side.
How does this work? Is the city leasing the property and providing the renovations? Wonder what the cost breakdown for this is out of the city budget.
The UWS votes in the same people over and over and then wonders why nothing changes. They don’t care about you. They have an agenda that has nothing to do with making your lives better. So stop your whining. You asked for it time and again. You voted for it time and again.
For those of you that don’t realize it. there is a homeless industrial complex in NYC that has no interest in solving the problem. Why would they? They make millions overcharging the city for “shelters”.
People need to stop voting for Brooklyn based politicians who wanted their own property values to go up and forcing former UWSers to move to Brooklyn with their kids. It started with DeBlah. Do you see migrant roaming park slope or Brooklyn Bridge Park?
Thanks Bill for mentioning that.
In addition- our last community board meeting – I found out AFTER that many individuals who spoke did not live in our neighborhood and many worked for the company behind the shelter.
West 74th is now owned by a hedge fund.
The $$$$ is staggering what they they are being paid for the homeless project.
Many of the commentators here do not have children that live in the neighborhood or an elderly parent.
You’re not wrong about the “homeless industrial complex.” Not entirely. The city needs to figure out how to house more homeless more permanently. Giving tax breaks for limited “affordable” apartments to luxury buildings obviously doesn’t work. Perhaps if each developer built a low income building for every high income development. But low income has to reflect the reality of low income residents. How low their income is and the services they will need in order to survive in a city that keeps getting more expensive. And I agree about the politicians. We do keep voting for the progressives. And I’m cool with that.
Perhaps if each developer built an affordable housing development for the homeless in an affordable part of the state, OUTSIDE of Manhattan?
Nice to see the holiday spirit on display here.
Why don’t we locate homeless shelters update ? There is ample room up there so the rent is cheap. Same with asylum seekers.
If they expanded train lines further up and towards the center of the state it might be an option.
Google camp LaGuardia.
Also, the folks upstate have the same NIMBY attitude that you seem to have.
And the rent is no longer that cheap upstate because of remote work.
There are shelters and supported housing on the East Side as well as hotels/residences being used to house the “migrants.”
For example, there is a women’s mental health shelter at the Park Avenue Armory, the Bentley Hotel (formerly tourist hotel) is now being used for “migrant” families, a student residence on Third Avenue and 97th is being used for “migrants” etc.
The women of the Park Ave Armory are frequently doing drugs outside as I take my daily walk by this facility.
Folks are doing drugs all over the place.
Careful there, lin. It sounds like you might be trying to inject facts into this conversation.
The election was last month. Gale Brewer won by a landslide! Did you vote? For the first time ever I voted for a gasp Republican, just because of this. You have no right to complain if you did not vote.
There are numerous shelters thru out the bronx in influx homeless ppl its sad situation yet so many ppl becoming homeless yes we all are over whelmed from our neighborhood to train stations but these folks need a place to live regardless of how we feel or feared repercussions they need to placed them in housing instead building more shelters yes it helps for while but there’s many new developments thru out the city placed them give them homes not shelters where they live short term and get kicked out or replace to another shelter that’s system always works the city that get funded not for the families. They need real homes permanent homes. No shade to but just speaking out loud. City need to do better .instead of human the congestion.
I feel bad for the neighbors. While I don’t like the one on 83rd, at least that street is more of a utility street (car rentals, post office, firehouse), so there are limited residents to have to deal with the mass migration every morning.
The whole deal with the investor group seems odd.. why’d they back out of developing it so quickly?
This is a block that’s less than two blocks from needle park. The developers did develop the property. They just didn’t develop it for a luxury audience. It actually serves the entire community better this way.
I know there is rarely space for nuance and compassion when we talk about shelters on this site, but hear me out: geographic diversity is really important to solving homelessness. Why? Because it is a highly intersectional problem that requires services, employment, and a host of other social factors that need to be present for somebody to go from literally living on the street to being independent, with their dignity intact. So this is why it’s not a sound idea to ship our fellow humans who are homeless to “upstate” or somewhere where rents aren’t “$5,000 per month.” These humans need access to social services and they don’t exist solely to torment you, despite what you might think.
Now watch me get ratio-ed by the NIMBYs. Merry Christmas to all.
There are also many fewer jobs, especially “unskilled,” upstate for people to transition into. Many of us live here for access to excellent employment opportunities, after all; I’m not sure what work *I* could be doing in Ossining.
And you know this how? Upstate places like Schenectady or Ithaca or Corning or Binghamton are like any other city or town. There are jobs for the skilled and the unskilled. Have you ever lived up there? We did for the years my husband was at Cornell. They have restaurants, farms, wineries and bars and some manufacturing just like NYC but on a lesser scale.
Yeah it’s not an indictment of Schenectady. I would say the same thing about a homeless person with roots there and being “shipped” to NYC (or any other city!). The point is, the “send them elsewhere” argument is rarely (if ever) about meaningfully solving the problem and more about just making it disappear from view.
Thank you, Dean. Merry Christmas.
Just for arguments sake….those services can be made available wherever they end up be in here or upstate. Yes they need services but it doesn’t necessarily have to be “here”.
They have subways, free dental schools, clinics, wanton construction projects, pantries, multilingual citizens, department of motor vehicles near a major bus line, transit vouchers, immigration processing centers, and job training programs available everywhere?
They will have services wherever they go and they will have a way to get around. It won’t be perfect but life isn’t perfect.
This also can be interpreted as giving surburbanites an excuse to cloister themselves in their isolated hamlets, while urban dwellers have to deal with every, and any, social problem.
People all over the country (city or suburbs) will find an excuse why homeless solutions don’t belong in their community because we often refuse to believe that homelessness is a local problem. We dehumanize them because we want to believe that it’s their personal shortcomings and nothing else, which excuses us from any responsibility to solving it. Has anyone thought about the very real (and probable) scenario that these single homeless women that will benefit from this shelter have roots in the NYC metropolitan area (family, friends, a job, a sponsor) and would have no idea what to do in Schenectady (picking a random place in Upstate)?
Thank you for posting this. It should really be pinned to the top of every new convo about migrants and shelters.
Yes, it should. And what should be pinned at the bottom is the usual… the bill.
The first sane, nuanced response I think I’ve seen here.
This is good
Nice letter from our Councilmember, but no objection to the plan at all? Your constituents have voiced opposition; will you listen and act on our behalf?
Gail Brewer could object all she wishes; this is a private deal between entities done as of right. Aside from using the bully pulpit to lambast this scheme there’s little else open to Ms. Brewer or anyone else.
Do inhabitants of UWS do nothing else but moan?
People don’t want a homeless shelter. They also don’t want luxury or any other housing that doesn’t suit their parochial interests.
A loud and persistent group of WSR readers voice opposition in these comments, which is a far cry from a majority of Gail Brewer’s constituents. The majority of Gail Brewer’s constituents do not reflexively oppose the addition of a 146-bed, single-women’s homeless shelter in our neighborhood.
Because of the COVID 19 Pandemic and wear housing Apartments that are Rent Control the prices of renting have gone up. Unfortunately, home owners are at risk as well when tenants can’t pay rent.
The Dream of ending Homeless has to do with supply and demand.
Right know there is plenty of demand but the supply is scarce. People will have to move to other more affordable regions and have jobs they can take with them.
Demand is high but supply is low and therefore prices are extremely high? Sounds like we should increase the supply of housing to bring prices down.
Or we could build more housing. The neighborhood, city, and country have all added lots of new people since these low rise brownstones were built.
I was homeless 14 years and need someplace to go AGAIN. How can I get on the list to get help at this homeless shelter?
What right does Gail Brewer have to poke her nose into a private real estate transaction by requesting copy of lease and other documents?
Only one side of the transaction is private. The other side is the City of New York. As such there should be full transparency.
Gail can request transaction documents directly as City Council member. You and anyone else can request it through FOIA request.
A. 160 West 74th is within a historical district (surprise, surprise). That oversight while not quite severe as outright landmark designation would have added layers of costs to any development that touched exterior. In short tearing down building and putting up something new wasn’t likely in the cards.
B. Bayrock Capital likely did some quick number crunching and realized they can make more money with this building as a homeless shelter than luxury apartments. This and that money will come with far less bother in terms of renovations and so forth.
https://nypost.com/2023/07/21/nycs-calhoun-school-to-become-apartments-after-14m-sale/
C. Luxury RE market is saturated with new development and or major renovations. With more in the pipeline. Current high mortgage rates are depressing sales to certain segment of that market.
On UES and elsewhere in Manhattan low rise buildings are coming down and new luxury condos or rentals are going up. Case in point would be “the Manor” on East 82nd street.
https://streeteasy.com/building/manor-82#tab_building_detail=2
160 East 74th though in heart of UWS and blocks from Central Park likely wouldn’t pull sort of prices or rents developers needed to break even and make profit. Not when property cost $14 million just for land and building.
If this homeless shelter is just a long term lease Bayrock Capital can revisit things in ten or so years. Meanwhile they are getting revenue from Volunteers of America – Greater New York, so it’s win-win.
It’s gratifying that you express so much concern for the plight of real estate developers, a segment of society that struggles so mightily to make its way in our world, achieve its goals and live its best life.
Yes, one does wonder how they have the strength to carry on..
You and others who share your sentiments do realize without the “real estate developers” you all so vilify there would be no housing or any other sort of building of any kind in New York.
If RE developers didn’t build things just who do you think would do so? State and local government? Don’t make me laugh. Even those two turn to real estate developers to get anything done.
reply to BB:
Actually, affordable housing in NYC has been a “market failure” for many decades now. the greatest successes in affordable housing have been public sector or public-private partnerships. I include NYCHA (yes, a great success in NYC until it was underfunds… and still a huge pillar of affordable housing), Mitchell-Lama (NY State), and large developments like Penn South, which were not created by private developers. these are all done outside of what is usually considered the “free market.”
You may be passionately opposed to this project, but based on how successful local residents were at stopping the new shelter on 59th street near waterline place, I wouldn’t get your hopes up.
Wondering if the 59th street project was switch to this?
I’m a nj resident and would like to know about rerouting to NY, im currently in a sober living and not to sure how long it will last due to the ending of my financial status. Please reach out to me.
If you are a resident of NJ, are there no local NJ facilities that can provide you with the shelter and services you require? I also assume there are jobs you can access and the local network that you have built, along with the progress you have made on your recovery?
This is ridiculous. The neighborhood is absolutely unsafe for children. Yet Gale Brewer allowed that to happen. We had a chance to vote her out, where was everyone? I voted for Diane. Were there any doubts that Gale Brewer would bring more shelters? Unlike UES reps, she only cares about herself and not her constituents.
Unsafe for children?? What a ridiculously out of touch comment, anyone walking around the UWS can tell you this is an extremely safe and family friendly neighborhood
Really? Have you gone the the Community Precinct meeting every 3rd Wednesday to see what is really going on? Last month a family came and the 12 year old girl told the Captain how a man was scaring kids when they were trying to go to school, yelling at them and frightening them. Why don’t you go to a meeting and see how “safe” families and children feel.
I think it’s your comment that’s ridiculous. UWS residents, people who voted–that is, Gail Brewer’s constituents–overwhelmingly disagree with you.
This is a wonderful and welcome addition to our community! We are requiredto help those in need. We have more than enough money.
What about housing that is suitable for people who don’t earn six figure salaries? People who don’t require social services? People who are mentally stable, have jobs, and in fact, often fill critical jobs in our community but would like to live closer to work? People who don’t suffer from addiction issues? People who have families and want to send their kid to a local school? A recent college graduate starting their first job? Someone who grew up in this neighborhood and wants to get their own apartment? Why is it either a million dollar listing OR state owned supportive housing? Is this the price of living in a historic district? Or the direct consequence of all the YIMBY developers and Open Plans who reimagine what their city should look like? Know they are one in the same. It often feels to me as I read these comment that the wealthy who have moved here in the last 10 years have a lot of guilt about the displacement they may have caused that they espouse these staunch liberal values in ways that are a tad unrealistic. We have A LOT of homeless up here. Familiar faces who have no intentions of ever getting off govt assistance or contributing in a positive way to the tax base of this community. Begging is tax free income. They aren’t going anywhere despite all the services. Does it even really matter or is it to make you feel better about yourself?
Spot on
Prior to 160 West 74th being the Calhoun school it was ” Mademoiselle Veltin’s Day School for Girls” from 1893 until 1924.
Mlle Veltin (who lived at 29 West 65th street) sold the property to Brothers of the Christian Schools who opened De La Salle Institute, a RC school for boys.
In 1960 property was sold once again to a RE investor named Fred H. Hill. Brothers who ran de La Salle Institute stated their reason for selling as that renovations to property that would modernize and bring it into modernity was just too much money. Mr. Hill had grand plans for an apartment building at annex of school ( 160 West 73rd street, which was reached from West 74th via a corridor between the two properties), but would leave main school building as was. It never happened.
Baldwin School was next at 160 West 74th until 1990 when the Calhoun School came along.
https://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-1893-veltin-school-160-west-74th.html
Baldwin school would make the news in 1986 when one of its students, Jennifer Levin (a senior) was found brutally murdered in Central Park. Her killer was Robert Chambers who was nicknamed “the preppie killer” by news media.
https://nypost.com/2016/08/24/how-the-preppy-killer-could-have-been-stopped/
I can’t believe how corrupt this city is that people are making billions of dollars from the scam of the Homeless Industrial Complex, using tax payers’ money to make themselves filthy rich and no one fights it.
If the CEO’s of these Non-Profit Service providers are making over $300,000/year, and you can look them up, they all do, something is corrupt and this city and its politicians just keep letting it happen – especially to the UWS. Need to plan my exit as looks like this city will never recover and be what it used to be 20 years ago.
20 years ago? When the murder rate was double what it is now?
If you build it, they will come….
The reality is that the sheer quantity of shelters has given rise to a new set of challenges. Critics argue that the proliferation of shelters has led to concentrated pockets of poverty, creating a strain on the social fabric of communities. As more shelters sprout up, concerns about the impact on neighborhood dynamics, property values, and the overall quality of life have gained traction.
Thank you very much for your diligent follow-up. Residents on the block were all taken aback by disbelief and surprise.
11/9 Community Boarding Meeting not only had minimal exposure but nothing was revealed according to the only participant who owns a hi end unit across the street.
The same with the 12/14 meeting in terms of exposure/notification – we did not recall seeing anything posted on the building itself until after 12/14 meeting!
Thank you.
At this point, my question is what, if anything, can residents of the block do about this in order to learn more? We had to deal with the Phoenix House next door for decades, but the residents were supervised and the facility was run fairly well except for an incredibly large a/c unit in the summer.
For now Ms. Gale Brewer’s quick same day response to published article is promising ( see “update”)
And many reports now vs. none at all when I initially contacted UW Rag who took it up immediately.
Knowledge is power!
I live 2 doors west of 160. We heard nothing about any meetings, but I saw a flyer that had been posted AFTER the meeting.
Bayrock Capital is run by Tevfik Arif and clearly this is about money, nothing more nothing less https://investigaterussia.org/players/tevfik-arif. Billing the city $300/night/person amounts to over $1 million per month.
Tevfik, who lives outside the U.S., is the owner of the capital. This situation reminds me of the Lucerne Hotel on 79th Street in Amsterdam. A triple high rental transaction is coming from the city government, returning back to the city government as high property tax.
If low-income musicians or artists are allowed to live in the neighborhood, the atmosphere would improve significantly.
Same millennia-old human engineering by the same rootless capitalists, funding both sides of conflicts, promoting mass migration, transgressive values and vice, destabilizing communities and creating yet more migrants for new profits. Exaggeration? Research Bayrock Capital and Tevfik Arif https://investigaterussia.org/players/tevfik-arif. This is about corporate welfare not human welfare. Bring back SROs. Support local building owners AND working people of modest means.