Affordable Housing Lottery Launches For Illegal UWS Hotel Replacement

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A new affordable housing lottery opened Friday on the Upper West Side. The units were created in a $60 million deal in the fall of 2020 from a building that was formerly an out-of-business and illegal hotel.

The real-estate company Fairstead, along with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and Project FIND, announced the launch of the affordable housing lottery for Park 79 at 117 W. 79th St. (near Columbus Avenue).

The new housing development will provide 77 homes to seniors earning at or below 50 percent of the median income, including 24 homes for formerly homeless individuals.

Additionally, all of the homes will be supported by a Section 8 contract that stipulates residents can pay no more than 30 percent of their income in rent.

"Park 79 could not open at a better time for countless seniors on the West Side who are aging in place and want to be able to continue to live in their community but need support to do so," UWS Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal said in a statement. "As the price of housing continues to skyrocket across the City, seniors who are living on low, fixed incomes are desperate to find safe, stable and affordable housing; my office has been working with many of them."

The lottery will run through Aug. 5, 2022, and the building is expected to be completed by the end of this summer.

The building will come equipped with indoor and outdoor common areas and provide on-site service with two social workers.

Seniors can apply for Park 79 on the Housing Connect website or request a paper application by sending a self-addressed envelope to — Fairstead Management c/o: Park 79, 560 Lenox Avenue, New York, NY 10037.

Park 79 is one of several residential buildings recently cited for illegal use by the city and consequently earmarked for affordable housing, most recently also on the Upper West Side at 258 W. 97th St.

The city shut down the seven-story building at 117 West 79th Street after it was supposed to be used as single-room occupancy (SRO) housing, but owners instead operated it as a tourist hotel.

Fairstead acquired the building in 2016 for $22.5 million, according to Bloomberg

The signed deal says that the property will remain affordable for seniors for at least the next 60 years.