$800 Million in Funds Allocated for Lower Manhattan

New York state and city officials announced a plan to distribute the remaining LMDC funds.

$300 Million for Cultural Center and World Trade Center Memorial

City and state officials in New York recently announced an allocation plan for the remaining $800 million in federal funds allotted for redeveloping Lower Manhattan. The monies would flow through the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.

Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the plan's details, which funnel the largest portion, $300 million, to the World Trade Center memorial and cultural center. The cultural center funding plan anticipates also collecting $200 million in matching private donations.

Another $150 million from the LMDC funds will go toward redeveloping the East River waterfront, while $70 million will be dedicated to develop a new component of Hudson River Park, which includes extending piers by several hundred feet.

Smaller allocations would fund other downtown projects, such as $36 million for transportation improvements, including ferry service upgrades. Another $15 million would fund improvements to the streetscape and security infrastructure around the New York Stock Exchange.

Other projects that will receive partial or full funding under the plan include rebuilding the Borough of Manhattan Community College's Fiterman Hall, a new 100,000-sq.-ft., K-8 school on Beekman Street, relocation of the Police Plaza security checkpoint, and a $7 million investment in the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corp.

The LMDC funding will come from the Community Development Block Grant program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Meanwhile, construction began recently on two interim memorials at the World Trade Center site. One is a recording booth in the World Trade Center's interim PATH station that will collect audio comments from survivors, rescue workers, and the family and friends of victims, about their memories of the Sept. 11 attacks. It opens this summer.

The second interim memorial will be the Tribute Center, a facility across from the World Trade site that will educate the public about the events of Sept. 11. The center would open early next year. The two elements are expected to remain once the permanent memorial opens in 2009. A groundbreaking is expected on the main memorial next year.

EDC Signs Development Deals for New Manufacturing Sites

The New York City Economic Development Corp. has signed agreements with seven manufacturing companies to develop new buildings in the Bronx and Brooklyn and create more than 200 jobs. Each of the manufacturers is based in the city and is expanding operations.

Among the manufacturers, Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center and Star Candle Co. will build the largest new facility, a $15 million, 138,000-sq.-ft. building on a vacant city-owned lot in the Bathgate section of the Bronx. The remaining facilities range from 1,000 to 12,000 sq. ft.

Brooklyn Rezoning Approved by City Council

The New York City Council approved a major rezoning for Brooklyn's Greenpoint and Williamsburg neighborhoods in mid-spring, capping a years-long effort to plan the redevelopment of two miles of waterfront along the East River that once housed factories and docks.

The rezoning included modifications by the council and the City Planning Commission to the Department of City Planning's draft proposal. It will introduce new housing and open space uses to the area, mixing those with light industry and commercial uses. The plan creates the potential for thousands of new residential units, including some affordable housing.

Among the council's changes to the plan was new wording to retain zoning for manufacturing in certain areas and the addition of an "inclusionary housing" program. The program, which is a first for the city in a major rezoning, allows developers to exceed residential density limits if the extra units are affordable or if they instead preserve or create additional affordable housing within specified zones off site.

The area addressed is roughly bounded by the East River, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the Williamsburg Bridge, and McGuinness Boulevard.