New renderings of East Harlem’s Sendero Verde, the country’s will-be largest passive house project

Despite Mayor de Blasio’s success meeting his affordable housing goals, East Harlem has fallen behind. As 6sqft recently reported, out of the 21,963 new units added in 2016,  just 249 were built in East Harlem, prompting the city to expedite the construction of 2,400 affordable units there over the next few years. A large chunk of this will come from Sendero Verde, a massive, mixed-use development that will bring 655 affordable rentals to the block bound by East 111th and 112th Streets and Park and Madison Avenues. Back in February, Jonathan Rose Companies and L+M Development Partners released a rendering from Handel Architects of the 751,000-square-foot project, but now CityRealty has uncovered an entire batch of drawings from the firm that detail how it will be the country’s largest passive house project and weave together the residences, a school, supermarket, and four community gardens, all surrounding a multi-layered courtyard.

According to CityRealty, “The project was awarded through the city’s SustainNYC program, which seeks to create affordable residences without compromising design quality.” To that end, when Jonathan Rose was selected by the city for the project he said, “Our goal is to create a complete community… not only housing but services for all the residents. We hope this block will be a real model of transformation, not only for the new residents who live there but for the whole neighborhood.”

In addition to the aforementioned amenities, the site will host a YMCA, job training center, 85,000-square-foot DREAM charter school, space for the local non-profit Union Settlement, restaurant, and preventative health care facility run by Mount Sinai.

The 264′ x 63′ courtyard will have public entrances on Park and Madison Avenues and East 111th Street, as well as an entrance through the community facility spaces. This open space “will feature a central meandering landscaped path inspired by a historical trail that once wound through the site.”

Google Earth rendering via CityRealty

In terms of the affordable housing, the 655 units will be spread throughout buildings ranging from 10 to 37 stories and will range from one- to three-bedrooms reserved for households earning 30, 60, and 130 percent of the area media income, or no more than $24,480, $48,960, and $106,031, respectively. As 6sqft previously explained, the highest bracket is more expensive than local market-rate rentals, but since the rents will be regulated the city still considers the project “100 percent affordable.” Construction is expected to wrap up in 2019.

[Via CityRealty]

RELATED:

• Massive Sendero Verde project will bring 655 affordable ‘passive house’ rentals to East Harlem
• City to develop 2,400 new affordable housing units in East Harlem
• Proposed East Harlem mixed-use development may contain city’s tallest building with affordable housing

All renderings via Handel Architects