NYC City Council Approves Bruce Teitelbaum’s One45

Once doomed to become a truck depot and marked down in the annals of epic land use fights, a Harlem site can now be transformed into 1,000 housing units.

The City Council on Monday approved One45, a three-building project planned for West 145th Street and Lenox Avenue. The project will feature three buildings, with 1,000 units, of which 338 will be permanently affordable. One of the buildings will be 100 percent affordable senior housing units.

The road to Monday’s vote was tortuous and featured several different visions for the site at 685-691 Lenox Avenue and 112-150 West 145th Street.

Developer Bruce Teitelbaum took the project nearly all the way through the city’s land use review process in 2022. He withdrew his rezoning application in May of that year, however, when it became clear that local City Council member Kristin Richardson Jordan would not support the project. Before he walked away from the project, Teitelbaum offered to set aside 51 percent, or 458 apartments, as affordable, though that proposal was contingent on public subsidy and the inclusion of higher rents. The Council member argued that the rents for the affordable units still didn’t meet the needs of residents.

Things took a theatrical turn when Teitelbaum set up a truck depot on the site, a well-publicized move that the developer later called a mistake after he had to return to the negotiating table. The fallout from the abandoned project went beyond the truck depot: Richardson Jordan dropped her re-election bid in May 2023 as she faced off with several moderate challengers who largely seemed more amenable to One45.

Teitelbaum signalled in February 2023 that he would reboot his project. Once a new council member, Yusef Salaam, was in place and the state extended the construction deadline for the property tax break 421a, Teitelbaum released new plans for the site the following year, which called for 968 housing units, including 291 set aside as permanently affordable.

The developer signed a memorandum of understanding with Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, pledging to negotiate with city officials and nonprofits to possibly increase the number of affordable housing units to 591. The public subsidy to do that, however, never materialized. The “enhanced affordability plan” outlined in the memorandum called for Concern Housing and West Harlem Group Assistance to operate the building with 100 percent affordable senior housing, but the developer is now looking for different partners. Another nonprofit, Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement, will monitor this aspect of the project, as well as other promises made by the developer through the community benefits agreement.

In a statement, Teitelbaum credited the mayor and Council members for getting the project over the finish line. “Victory has a thousand authors, but only a handful can rightfully claim credit for the 1,000 new homes being created in Harlem,” he said. “The primary authors of this story are Mayor Eric Adams and Councilmember Yusuf Salaam.”

The project’s approval comes as the city’s Charter Revision Commission considers allowing voters in November to decide if City Council’s control over land use decisions should be weakened in certain circumstances. The Adams administration is also moving forward with its “Manhattan Plan,” which is projected to add 100,000 housing units to Manhattan over the next decade.

Last month, after a decade-long fight, the administration decided against moving forward with a housing project planned for the Elizabeth Street Garden. Officials framed the about-face as a win because three other rezonings, that could net more than 600 units, will move forward instead of the 123-unit project at the garden. The reversal angered developers, pro-housing groups and elected officials. City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams called the decision a “capitulation to special interests.”