The City is planning to develop the site of the Gansevoort Meat Market north of the Whitney Museum on public land in the Meatpacking District, within a state and nationally recognized historic district. In addition to allowing an expansion of the Whitney Museum and maintenance and operations space for the High Line, it will include a 60-story, 600-ft.-tall, 600-unit apartment tower of mostly ultra-expensive super-luxury units. Located on Little West 12th Street between Washington and West Streets, the ludicrously oversized structure would stand nearly three times taller than its closest neighbor in height within the district. Just 25-50% of the units will be set at below-market rents, which on average will still be too expensive for the majority of NYC renters to afford. And the luxury apartments, while making up 50-75% of the unit count in the building, may be larger and take up considerably more of the actual space in the building. 

Officials have not said how they would ensure that the affordable units remain permanently affordable, rather than reverting to market rate at some point in the future as often happens with such projects.

Village Preservation is demanding that all luxury, market-rate units be removed from this project on public land, which would reduce the size of the tower by at least 50-75%, and that the “affordable” housing be guaranteed to remain permanently affordable. This project must go through a full rezoning process and requires approval by the City Council, where its final contours will be decided.