New York City's New Affordable Housing Deal To Also Generate Funds For Pier 40 Improvements
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Councilman Corey Johnson have teamed up on an affordable housing project.
As WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported, at 15 acres, Pier 40 is the largest of the piers in Hudson River Park.
"It's a place where kids play soccer games and baseball games, Little League," said Johnson.
But the City Council member said the pier is crumbling.
"There are thousands of pilings that are rotting," he said.
So Johnson and the de Blasio administration have made a deal with the developers of the massive St. John's building on West Street at Houston Street to buy the pier's air rights.
"And those air rights will allow the park to get $100 million from that sale, and I negotiated a huge amount of affordable housing," said Johnson.
Pier 40 will now be rehabilitated and 500 of the 1,500 units to be built will be designated as affordable housing.
Johnson called that a win-win.
