By Lily Seltz
A bevy of neighborhood and city politicians turned out Friday for the groundbreaking of a new project that will restore the historic Three Arts Club at 340 West 85th Street and convert it into 61 units of permanent, energy-efficient housing.
The project, undertaken by the nonprofit West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing (WSFSSH), will produce studio apartments for adults 55 and older who earn half, or less than half, the area median income. (A single adult qualifies if they make $28,350 a year or less.) On hand for the groundbreaking, in addition to the nonprofit’s public and private partners, were Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal; State Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal; City Councilmember Gale Brewer; and State Senator Erik Bottcher.
Their attendance was perhaps a sign of the current prominence of housing issues in the city, including on the Upper West Side.
“These days, some think that people with needs are disposable, that people who don’t have homes don’t matter,” said Assemblymember Rosenthal at the groundbreaking event. “But WSFSSH’s work…flies in the face of that kind of philosophy.”
The restoration will launch the newest chapter for a nearly century-old building that has long served as an affordable alternative to private-market housing on the Upper West Side.
Situated on a verdant block between West End and Riverside, the Three Arts Club opened in 1927 as a residence for unmarried women pursuing careers in music, painting, and theater (including “Brady Bunch” actress Florence Henderson), before its conversion in 1953 into a boarding house for students and workers. After a close brush with private market sale in 2017, WSFSSH, which offers affordable housing and social services, bought the building and briefly used it as a shelter for homeless UWSers until 2022.
In the 1920s, “places like the Arts Club represented independence, ambition, and community,” said Nicole Marrocco, director of real estate development at the nonprofit. “Nearly a century later, that legacy continues in a new form…This building will once again serve people seeking stability, dignity, and the opportunity to thrive in New York City.”
Marrocco also noted the project’s environmental ambition: to restore Three Arts in adherence with international energy guidelines known as Passive House standards. The retrofitted building will feature rooftop solar panels, strong insulation, and high-efficiency heating and cooling systems. According to Marrocco, these and other modifications will be made while preserving many of the original Three Arts Club’s architectural features.
“Three Arts demonstrates that even complex historic buildings can be transformed to help meet the city’s housing needs and its climate goals,” said Marrocco.
The building will see one major change: While the women’s boarding house and the temporary WSFSSH shelter provided single room occupancy (SRO) housing to more than 120 people at their peaks, the restoration will combine rooms to create 61 studio apartments with private bathrooms.
Formerly homeless individuals referred by several city agencies will make up 40% of the project’s residents; the other 60% will gain entrance via a lottery system. All residents will have access to a range of WSFSSH-provided programming, including case management, counseling, technology access, and enrichment activities. The organization also hopes to make certain Three Arts spaces—like the grand auditorium that hosted Friday’s launch—accessible to the neighborhood for concerts and other events.
Paul Freitag, executive director of WSFSSH, told the Rag that while the organization had faced some community pushback when it opened the temporary shelter at Three Arts several years ago, the organization had overcome neighborhood objections by holding frequent public meetings. He also credited City Councilmember Brewer’s support of the project. “Gale was a huge advocate. The block trusted Gale,” said Freitag.
The restored building will join a portfolio of about a dozen other WSFSSH holdings on the Upper West Side, including Independence House at West 94th Street; the Valley Lodge shelter at West 108th Street; and Euclid Hall on Broadway between West 84th and 85th streets.
According to Freitag, when WSFSSH acquired Three Arts in 2017, seven longtime occupants of the women’s boarding house were still living in the building. “Our pledge was that nobody would be forcibly relocated,” Freitag said.
After some persuasion by Brewer (“There were some wonderful, strong, opinionated women that did not want to move out,” Brewer said), the nonprofit helped the women move into two other WSFSSH properties on the Upper West Side. Six of those women have the right to return to the Three Arts Club, if they so choose, once construction is complete on the new project.
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