Forty years after it was cleared, the long-fallow Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA) is as close as its ever been to seeing some actual renewal. Last night a Community Board 3 task force assigned to figure out what do with the area voted unanimously on a plan for the parcel and, best of all, Sheldon Silver, who carries enormous weight in the area and has previously been against plans for it, came out in favor of the latest proposal.
Which is not to say there isn't a long road ahead for the area. The plan still needs to be approved by the full board tonight, a more detailed development plan needs to be created and then we'll get to the city's endless land use process. Not to mention actually getting the area developed and finding tenants and such. But we're closer now than ever before. And to have Shelly Silver saying things like "the final guidelines that were approved by the committee tonight strike an appropriate balance between the needs and concerns of all stakeholders and will result in a development that will ensure our neighborhood continues to thrive" is certainly a good sign!
The current plan includes adding about 1,000 housing units, roughly half of which would go to middle- and low-income earners (despite calls for the housing to be all for those income brackets), as well as retail shops, green space and, hopefully—if what has happened after the development of Battery Park is any indication—a school. The proposal also includes plans to move and/or rebuild the Essex Street Market, though that aspect has met more criticism from neighbors than the rest of the proposal.
