By Gus Saltonstall
A housing lottery just launched for nearly 60 apartments within a luxury Upper West Side residential complex.
The 55 units available, as of Wednesday, are located within Waterline Square at 639 West 59th Street, near Freedom Place. The apartments include one- to three-bedroom units and range from $782 to $1,803 in rent.
For all units, the eligible income requirement for applicants is between $30,515 and $126,240.
Here is more of a breakdown of the available apartments.
24 One-Bedroom Apartments
- Monthly rent on the units ranges from $782 to $1,295
- Household size: One to three people
- Annual household income: $30,515 to $91,620, depending on the number of people living in the unit.
The one-bedroom apartments have different minimum and maximum income requirements depending on the specific unit, which you can check out HERE.
28 Two-Bedroom Apartments
- Monthly rent on the units ranges from $996 to $1,568
- Household size: Two to five people
- Annual household income: $39,018 to $109,920, depending on the number of people living in the unit.
Again, the two-bedroom apartments have different minimum and maximum income requirements depending on the specific unit, which you can check out HERE.
3 Three-Bedroom Apartments
- Monthly rent on the units ranges from $1,569 to $1,803
- Household size: Three to seven people
- Annual household income: $58,663 to $126,240, depending on the number of people living in the unit.
The three-bedroom units also have different minimum and maximum income requirements depending on the unit, which you can find HERE.
Rent includes heat, hot water, and gas within all units.
“Exceptional residences. Quality beyond compare. Waterline Square presents apartments that position your home as a space for exceptional living,” reads a description of the units on the Housing Connect website. “These residences feature expansive, light-filled layouts, modern finishes, and windows with sweeping city views.”
Amenities at the building include a gym, pool, basketball court, entertainment lounges, a rock-climbing wall, a skate park, a golf simulator, and more. The amenities are part of the Waterline Club, which does come with an extra, undisclosed membership fee.
The Waterline Square housing lottery is open until June 23. There is no application fee, and you can apply — HERE.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
This is the closest thing I’ve seen so far to a price structure that actually falls under “affordable” housing for the given apartment sizes. Not sure how thy did it, but I wonder why more developers can’t do it.
The developer is not providing these “affordable” apartments out of altruism.
The developer is getting massive 421-A tax abatements to provide a handful of below market rentals.
This is money NYC desperately needs but is losing out on. This shortfall is being made up by either cutting services or raising taxes on everyone else.
In other words, these “affordable” apartments are actually subsidized apartments and a gift to wealthy developers.
Even if you were correct (and you are only partly so), ANYTHING that helps provide something that is much closer to “affordable housing” than how that term has been used and applied for years is a good thing.
Why should I have to pay taxes to the city so that it can subsidize lower rents for people that can’t afford to live in this part of the city? Should I get a subsidize and a right to live on Park Ave and 69th Street?
Do you realize how far west this is? This is the 600 block of West 59th Street. The 400s are between 9th and 10th Avenue for example. “This part of the City” is almost in the River. It’s a completely new neighborhood that has only just sprung up in the past ten years on the extremely far west side of Manhattan. It was once only industrial wasteland with gas stations and abandoned railroad tracks. There are no subways back there (yet). Are there schools? A firehouse? A police precinct? (No.) It’s literally pioneering, even if it is luxurious. Do you know how cold it is when the wind rips off the river in the winter? We are not talking about thousands of people, either. And $1,800 in rent does not include (most likely) electricity, cable, phone, gas, or whatever. The City has plenty of dough. It’s just that so much is squandered by governments everywhere, especially the federal government. This is needed in America.
A gift or a trade? it seems like “the city will give you money in exchange for you foregoing revenue you otherwise would have made” is more of a trade than a gift.
Everything is true except the last sentence. The developers would make a lot more money if they could only build luxury or at least market rate apartments. They lose money when building affordable units, especially in Manhattan. The tax abatements help to offset the losses.
Wondering if these are permanently affordable?
Or do they change to market when the tax break expires?
On a similar note, if your earnings thisbyear (or last) are within the limits and you win the lottery can you stay forever or do they reevaluate each year?
I’m in favor of affordable housing, but this may earn honors as the ugliest building on the UWS, if not the entire city.
I’ d like to apply but the Lottery housing site is pretty hard to navigate. Anyone know how to get help with that?
If you just want to check if you meet the criteria (without registering) you can enter your info here: https://housingconnect.nyc.gov/PublicWeb/
If you want to apply for the lottery, this is the direct link to register. You’ll get a confirmation email, and it should be straightforward from there. https://housingconnect.nyc.gov/PublicWeb/auth/sign-up
Very frustrating – and not just to ‘mere’ architects! – that they ±100% NEVER tell us what architects designed the project! (You have to search for that entirely elsewhere.)
And showing a simple location map would help every reader a lot, esp. when no standard cross street is implied – which is mostly the case. At least here, the ‘639’ suggests ‘west of 11th Avenue.’
Hey, HPD! Can you do some simple reg to just mandate these info-musts for these ads you oversee? Good luck.!
–an ex-HPDer (early ’90s DAMP), now a homeless geezer