This morning, as I almost got swiped by a car pulling into the City-owned parking lot at 530 thru 542 Dean Street (between Carlton and 6th Ave), I wondered if the City has plans to put affordable housing on this site. The City is scrambling to hit the mayor’s ambitious affordable housing goals, and is even considering taking back community gardens for that purpose (see here: http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150116/morningside-heights/community-gardens-threatened-by-de-blasios-affordable-housing-plan). Why not put affordable housing on this property as well?
This is a roughly 60-space parking lot occupying over 17,000 square feet of land. It appears to be serving City HPD, which has a site office on the next block at 516 Bergen Street (which itself could probably be better utilized). While I’m sure HPD needs a place to stash some City-owned vehicles, do they really need 60 parking spaces in one of the most transit-rich parts of the city?
By my back-of-the envelope calculations, a 35-unit apartment building could go here under the current zoning. A few zoning tweaks and a creative designer could probably even accommodate some dedicated HPD parking in a future building (though probably not 60 spaces). It seems like such a wasted opportunity for such a prime location.
Anyway, I’d be curious if anyone knows whether the City has plans for this lot, or has even looked at it for development.