Plans for development of the Lower East Side Seward Park lot in New York were stalled for around a decade. However, the lull has finally lifted and the city is now looking for builders and developers to make use of the six acre lot.
A part of the site is currently used as parking space while most of the lot remains unused. The city authorities and the community groups mutually consented in 2012 to include around 900 affordable apartments in the vacant area. The space will also be used for commercial and office usage, reports Wall Street Journal.
The place is set to become a1.65 million square feet mixed use parcel of which 60 percent is allotted for housing and the rest for commercial usage, reports Crain's New York Business.
Proposals for development have been invited as The Economic Development Corporation issued out a "Request for Proposal (RFP)" for the plot, reports Commercial Observer.
"The release of this RFP is the culmination of an unprecedented community planning process, and we look forward to receiving a robust set of proposals that will ultimately reintegrate these sites back into this vital community," Seth Pinsky, Head of Economic Development Corporation told Commercial Observer.
The Seward park site was cleared away 43 years ago when the city tore down tenement buildings. The now vacant lot earlier sported a market building, a fire station and two other buildings, reports WSJ.
The development project calls for the expansion of the lot that lies at the foot of Williamsburg Bridge. The 6 acre plot has nine separate sites and developers are solicited to bid for one or more sites. The last date of bidding for construction at the site is May 6, 2013 while decisions will be finalized by the end of the year, reports New York Business Journal.
