Perched on the far northern tip of Manhattan, Inwood has a reputation as a place where bald eagles and young couples alike come to nest — the eagles in Inwood Hill Park, the couples in the neighborhood’s abundant stock of spacious one- and two-bedroom co-op apartments.
This ecosystem may soon be altered, however, by a proposed rezoning that would allow mixed-use, mid- and high-rise residential development along the neighborhood’s long-neglected Harlem River waterfront. Sherman Creek, as the area is known, is a sparsely populated area of one-story warehouses, parking lots and Con Edison substations. It is among Manhattan’s largest remaining tracts of land with little housing or commerce.
The city’s plans involve more than the land east of 10th Avenue, which is still zoned mostly for manufacturing despite the lack of such activity. The rezoning also includes the area encompassed by Dyckman Street, Broadway and West 207th Street, the so-called “Commercial U.” This area is already zoned for residential and commercial activity, but the changes proposed by the Department of City Planning would double the allowed density along these corridors.
Along the waterfront, development rights attached to city-owned property — much of it partially underwater — would be transferred to developers, who would then be permitted to build towers up to 21 stories high. In return, they would fund the construction of a public waterfront park that could connect with Swindler’s Cove and High Bridge Park to the south.
Kelly Cole, a Corcoran Group vice president who specializes in Upper Manhattan, says that such a substantial influx of new residential development could transform Inwood.
“You throw all this waterfront development on the table,” she said, “and buyers say, ‘Wow — I better get into the market now because if I don’t, I’m going to be priced out of even Inwood.’
Public review of the rezoning proposal under the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) won’t begin until next year, however. City Planning hopes to see the new regulations enacted by the end of 2007, according to press secretary Rachaele Raynoff. In the meantime, the Parks Department is about to begin construction of five street-end waterfront parks in Sherman Creek.
The parks, which will include a boat launch and fishing perches, are intended to encourage active use of the waterfront. The street ends are now blocked off with sheets of corrugated tin, preventing access to the river. The project recently won an award for design excellence from the New York City Art Commission.
Raynoff describes the parks as a way to seed revitalization of Sherman Creek before the legal framework for redevelopment is in place. “These are early action items,” she says. “It’s something that can be done now.”
One potential point of contention is affordable housing. As was the case with the recent Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning, a proposed inclusionary zoning provision would offer developers a 33 percent floor-area bonus if at least 20 percent of units meet the city’s standards for affordability. Alternatively, developers could build affordable units off-site within a half-mile of their development as long as the units remain within Community District 12, which also includes Washington Heights.
As such details have emerged, some residents have voiced concerns that 20 percent is far short of meeting the neighborhood’s need for affordable housing. (Representatives of Community Board 12 did not return calls for comment.) Inwood’s median household income, at just over $21,000, lags far behind the citywide median of $38,293, and chronic overcrowding is a problem.
Raynoff notes that the size of the affordable component has yet to be finalized. “But the idea,” she says, “is that you don’t want this aid to have a chilling effect on housing production altogether.”
Meanwhile, Inwood’s sizeable Dominican community, concentrated east of Broadway, has awakened to a window of opportunity that may be closing as word of waterfront development spreads, says broker Lisbeth Ramirez of Fenwick Keats Goodstein.
“People are getting scared — they know that at some point those rent-stabilized apartments aren’t going to be there anymore,” says Ramirez. “Citibank is a big influence in the community, and they run seminars on buying a home. Trucks pull up on weekends and give out information on home loans. Everybody knows that it’s coming.”
Gus Perry, whose firm Stein-Perry Real Estate has roots in the area, believes that the new development won’t please everyone. “Once it’s approved and the cat is out of the bag, you’ll have a lot of interest and a lot of protests, too,” he says.
But Perry’s concern is that the area could find itself with too much inventory in a cooling market. “In Brooklyn and parts of Manhattan, there were a lot of condos built in the last three to five years,” he says. “A slight correction like we’ve had this year is no big deal; you can weather that. But if you have a huge glut of condos, it becomes a bigger problem.”
Still, Perry agrees, it’s hard to see how any Manhattan waterfront development, combined with a wealth of parks, improving local schools, and expanded retail options, could possibly fail.
“With condos, plus a more upscale element peppered in among the shops that have been here for a while, you just broaden the range of possible buyers,” says Cole of Corcoran. “I don’t think there’s a downside. You’re never going to turn this into Tribeca.”