Vacant Chelsea lot closer to becoming park

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City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and 136 West 20th Street (building credit: PropertyShark)
Thanks to failing projects elsewhere in the neighborhood, Chelsea residents fighting for a park at the soon-to-be-vacated Department of Sanitation facility site at 136 West 20th Street are optimistic their cause can become a reality.

According to Chelsea Now, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn reinforced her promise to find an alternative site for the affordable housing project originally slated for the Department of Sanitation land, and transform the plot on 20th street between Sixth and Seventh avenues into a park.

“We will continue to work hard and creatively in trying to find an alternative location for the affordable housing and are in the process of reviewing several potential sites,” Quinn said.

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Advocacy group Friends of 20th Street Park point to the unsuccessful condominium projects in West Chelsea along the High Line as potential targets for affordable housing, rather than existing open space. A plethora of new projects in the area led the Wall Street Journal to say Chelsea is suffering from “selling fatigue.”

In addition to those options, there’s a deteriorating city-owned property at 201 Seventh Avenue at 22nd Street, that advocates want to be redeveloped into suitable affordable housing. They say it makes more sense to refurbish that than perform costly new construction where open space already exists. [Chelsea Now]