City Picks Developers for Big Lower East Side Housing and Cultural Complex

The city has selected developers to transform a mostly vacant 6-acre site on the Lower East Side into a residential, commercial and cultural complex.
 
The plan calls for parks, a movie theater, bowling alley, urban farm and an Andy Warhol Museum. The housing is slated to include rental units and condos, half offered at below market value. 

The site, which is by Delancey and Essex streets, has long been called the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area. The new complex will be known as Essex Crossing.
 
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the six-block complex also will serve as a hub for small-business incubation.

The city has wanted to redevelop the area, by Delancey and Essex streets, since 1967, when it began razing tenement buildings there once occupied by working-class immigrants. 
 
It is the largest city-owned site below 96th Street.
 
"For decades, these lots have sat vacant and under-used despite repeated attempts by various mayors to redevelop sites," Bloomberg said in announcing the plan. "We struck a real partnership with community leaders, and that collaborative process has produced very rewarding results: an innovative, modern plan that complements the Lower East Side's history and traditions."
 
The chosen developers include Taconic Investment Partners, L+M Development Partners, and BFC Partners.