Eight rent-stabilized tenants at the Upper West Side single-room-occupancy building formerly known as the Hotel Alexander, at 306 West 94th Street, are refusing to leave their homes, holding up the city’s controversial plans to convert the property into a 200-bed men’s homeless shelter. According to the Wall Street Journal, the tenants received offers of $50,000 plus three years’ free rent at an adjacent building that their landlord also owns. They had until Tuesday to accept the offer, but none did. Owner Alexander Scharf declined to comment on the offer and said only that he is leasing out the building. [more]

A non-profit organization has canceled its plans to build a $50 million apartment complex for formerly homeless and low-income individuals less than a week before its scheduled presentation before Jamaica’s Community Board 12, the Daily News reported. The proposal, by Manhattan-based Common Ground, had drawn mixed opinions from community leaders, some of whom had argued that southeastern Jamaica does not need another homeless shelter. Common Ground had insisted that the project was not a shelter. Its proposal had called for 133 studio apartments for formerly homeless individuals and 89 units for individuals making less than $32,000 per year. Comments

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A controversial proposed Chelsea homeless shelter is forging ahead, despite heavy opposition from neighborhood advocacy groups, according to DNAinfo. The shelter, which would house upward of 328 individuals at 127 West 25th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues, hasn’t yet received its city contract, but the Bowery Residents Committee, which is developing the facility, said it plans to move forward. The proposed shelter, which has garnered modest support from Community Board 4, has faced vociferous opposition from neighborhood group Chelsea Flatiron Coalition, which says the facility is too large and would pose safety issues for residents. [more]

The landlord of a four-story Greenpoint industrial building that non-profit organization HELP USA is seeking to turn into a men’s homeless shelter has presented the building’s remaining tenants with a relocation offer that could clear the way for the conversion, according to the Brooklyn Paper. The planned 200-bed shelter, at 400 McGuinness Boulevard and Clay Street, would be among the largest in Northern Brooklyn and has drawn significant opposition from community members and local politicians.  [more]

Andrew Cuomo’s sister is looking to turn a four-story Greenpoint industrial building into one of the largest homeless shelters in Northern Brooklyn, according to the Brooklyn Paper. Maria Cuomo Cole, who is married to designer Kenneth Cole, is the executive chair of the board at HELP USA, the non-profit low-income housing builder and operator, which has already submitted a proposal for a 200-bed men’s shelter to the city, city officials said. Cole also manages the HELP Women’s Center in Brownsville, among other transitional housing facilities across the northeast. The Greenpoint location, on McGuiness Boulevard and Clay Street, would be HELP’s first in the neighborhood, and would take on clients referred by the city for “comprehensive assessments, support services and housing placement assistance.” The loft property is zoned for light manufacturing use but is currently occupied by artists and residents who might turn out to be difficult to evict, given the loft law’s recent passage. HELP representatives have been invited to speak about the plan at the next Community Board 1 meeting Sept. 15. [Brooklyn Paper]

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Community advocates are riled over a possible new homeless shelter in southeastern Queens, according to the New York Daily News. Residents and local officials are speaking out over the shelter, which is angling to move into a 54-unit apartment building at 170-02 93rd Avenue in Jamaica, because they say their neighborhood is already overrun with similar facilities. City Council member Leroy Comrie said that the proposed shelter’s proximity to a senior center and single-parent female shelter could spell bad news. “While we want to try to be helpful and open, this location is absolutely the wrong site,” Comrie said. “We have too many vulnerable people in the area already.” Of the 17 homeless shelters currently location in Queens, nine are located in the southeastern region, city officials say. [NYDN]

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Community advocates are riled over a possible new homeless shelter in southeastern Queens, according to the New York Daily News. Residents and local officials are speaking out over the shelter, which is angling to move into a 54-unit apartment building at 170-02 93rd Avenue in Jamaica, because they say their neighborhood is already overrun with similar facilities. City Council member Leroy Comrie said that the proposed shelter’s proximity to a senior center and single-parent female shelter could spell bad news. “While we want to try to be helpful and open, this location is absolutely the wrong site,” Comrie said. “We have too many vulnerable people in the area already.” Of the 17 homeless shelters currently location in Queens, nine are located in the southeastern region, city officials say. [NYDN]

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A homeless shelter serving a predominantly African-American population at 603 Dean Street in Downtown Brooklyn, within the planned Atlantic Yards development area, was shut down yesterday, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, through the use of eminent domain, sparking outrage in the community. Local officials, including City Council member Letitia James and State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, joined neighborhood advocates and Freddy’s Bar, whose outlandish protests of the Atlantic Yards eminent domain seizure have drawn local exposure, in protesting the closure of the Pacific Dean Shelter. The vigil, which began at midnight yesterday outside the recently-closed facility, came on the heels of a weekend-long protest of the shuttering. “I will put myself on the ground in front of the bulldozers,” Montgomery said during the protest Saturday. “I will do anything I can to stop this.” The video above contains footage of the protest. [more]