City Considering Even Larger Development for 388 Hudson Affordable Housing Site — Up to 35 Stories

Last week, the city presented its latest thinking on potential development plans for the vacant city-owned site at 388 Hudson Street (at Clarkson Street) across from JJ Walker Park. At the urging of Community Board 2, the city has been considering increasingly larger development possibilities for the 100% affordable housing structure to be built there — expanding possibilities from the originally planned 100-unit, 145-ft.-tall, 14-story building, to several other larger possibilities, up to and including an approximately 35-story, 365-ft.-tall, 335-unit building — the largest legally allowable under state law and NYC zoning (the adjacent City-As-School building is approximately 85 ft. tall according to city records; 2 Fifth Avenue is 20 stories and 207 ft. tall).

The city is yet to hold its promised public meeting with the community to discuss its thinking on the project (originally planned for May), but gave a tentative commitment at the meeting to hold one on July 27. They are however continuing to gather feedback from the public via their website at www.nyc.gov/388-hudson-rfp. See their presentation to Community Board 2 here.

Village Preservation continues to call for a building on this site that maximizes affordable housing while respecting its context as a transition point between the denser loft buildings of Hudson Square to the south and the low-rise residential buildings of the West Village and Greenwich Village Historic District to the north. We are also urging that shadows on the well-utilized JJ Walker Park directly to the north of the site be taken into account, and that rather than building a taller building, the city add mass to the southern portion of the site wherever possible.

If you want to share your opinions about the planned development, email the following:

June 20, 2023