WHEREAS, The applicant (known as 241 West 28th Owner LLC, c/o L&L MAG) proposes to build two 22-story buildings, that will include units of the affordable housing under the Affordable Housing Plan application pursuant to the Voluntary Inclusionary Housing Program.

WHEREAS, The applicant proposes to build the two 22 story rental buildings separated by an interior usable court yard, with frontages on West 28th and West 29th Streets; and

WHEREAS, The proposed building is receiving a 3 FAR bonus, in exchange for the construction of the 96 inclusionary housing units, and will be a total of 12 residential FAR; and

WHEREAS, The buildings will comprise a total of 480 units, of which 96 will be Inclusionary Housing (IH), 383 units market rate, and 1 unit for superintendent; and

WHEREAS, 50% of the IH units will be offered for rent to tenants earning 70% of AMI, and 50% to tenants earning 80% of AMI; and

WHEREAS, The applicant has represented that affordable units will be spread out throughout the building in a way that mirrors the market rate apartments, with units on higher floors, and with apartments ranging in size from studios to three-bedrooms; and

WHEREAS, The level of finishes, fixtures and interior amenities in the affordable units will be exactly identical to the market-rate units; and

WHEREAS, The various amenities offered by the building such as fitness room, play room, etc, will be accessible to the affordable units for free while market rate tenants will be charged a fee; and

WHEREAS, The pool located on the roof of the building will be accessible for a reduced fee to affordable tenants, while market rate tenants will be charged a higher fee; and

WHEREAS, The building will offer a bike storage facility with an over 200 bike capacity; and

WHEREAS, The building will be ADA compliant and fully accessible including all the amenity rooms, the pet spa, the health club and the roof top pool; and

WHEREAS, A member of the public expressed the necessity to provide full ADA compliance and accessibility, which this building does; and

WHEREAS, A member of the public expressed opposition to the building because of its height as well as for the lack of real affordability given that the AMI is very high in this district; and

WHEREAS, The applicant has hired an affordability consultant and the project abides by the requirements of HPD; and

WHEREAS, The retail spaces located at the ground floor will be neighborhood oriented and will favor small businesses; and

WHEREAS, The building aims to be LEED Gold certified; and

WHEREAS, Community Board Five prefers when low-income units created through the IHP are mixed in a building with market-rate units, as is the case here, to further objectives of economic integration; therefore be it

RESOLVED, Community Board Five recommends approval of the IHP application at 241 West 28th Street for a 22-story building, that will include 96 units of the affordable housing pursuant to the voluntary inclusionary housing program of HPD, provided that the affordable units distribution throughout the building is a true reflection of the market rate units, with apartments ranging in size in equal proportions and distributed throughout the building in equal proportions, (including on the upper floors of both buildings) and with identical finishes, fixtures and interior amenities as the market rate units, all of which the applicant has made a commitment to do.