The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the New York City Housing Development Corporation, and The New York Public Library are working together to launch a new 100-percent affordable housing property in Inwood with a public library, a preschool, and a multitude of community facilities. Located at 4790 Broadway, the 14-story property will debut as The Eliza in honor of Eliza Hamilton, the wife of Alexander Hamilton.
The design team includes Fogarty Finger Architecture and Andrew Berman Architect. Renderings illustrate a light gray concrete volume with an International Style-inspired fenestration. The lower levels, which will house the new library, are primarily enclosed in floor-to-ceiling glass with red brick elements surrounding the entryway.
The housing component will include 174 deeply affordable residences. Available layouts will include studios and one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments for low-income households earning 60 percent and below of the area median income.
Courtesy of Fogarty Finger and Andrew Berman Architects
Courtesy of Fogarty Finger and Andrew Berman Architects
Courtesy of Fogarty Finger and Andrew Berman Architects
Courtesy of Fogarty Finger and Andrew Berman Architects
The new 20,000-square-foot, three-story Inwood Library will replace the neighborhood’s existing branch in an effort to modernize and invigorate available facilities. The new space will feature an improved layout, flexible spaces for education and local programming, updated digital technologies for the modern patron, and an expanded collection of rotating materials.
Renderings of the library reveal a largely open floor plan, exposed brick, double-height wood plank ceilings, and a minimalist layout.
The updated library is expected to open in 2023. Throughout construction, The New York Public Library will keep its temporary site across the street at 4857 Broadway open for patrons to pick up or drop off books.
“As New York City prepares for its next chapter of recovery and renewal, it is critical that its social infrastructure—including and especially public libraries—be as strong as possible to meet the changing needs of the New Yorkers who rely on their services,” said New York Public Library president Anthony W. Marx. “This project will do just that: it will give the people of Inwood a great new library that will be as beloved as the one we are replacing but offer even more space, collections, and programs.”
Courtesy of Fogarty Finger and Atchain
Courtesy of Fogarty Finger and Atchain
Courtesy of Fogarty Finger and Andrew Berman Architects
The property will also house a 6,800-square-foot universal pre-kindergarten facility operated by the New York City Department of Education. Community facility spaces will include a 10,000-square-foot activities, culture, and training center managed by The Community League of the Heights (CLOTH) and Children’s Village, and approximately 2,135 square feet of flexible science, technology, engineering, and math classroom space managed by First Robotics.
Additional funding from the Robin Hood Foundation, the city’s largest poverty-fighting philanthropic organization, is a pivotal component to the advancement of The Eliza from concept to eventual completion.
“The Eliza exemplifies what can be accomplished through community engagement and collaboration across the public and private sectors,” said HDC president Eric Enderlin. “This project will bring deeply affordable housing as well as educational resources through the new library and universal pre-K facility, a tremendous victory for New Yorkers and the entire Inwood community.”
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This is a great project. Everyone is benefitted from it, and it looks fantastic (especially the exterior).
So what’s been updated?
The renderings and project are all several years old. The existing library has already been demolished. The ridiculous way the city faked public engagement in order to overrule NYPL’s own consultants and spot upzone the property under the cover of the Inwood rezoning has all been well documented but is old news.
So what is the update?
I guess the update is that we now have a target year for completion: 2023. But the name has to change. We can do better.
It’s already better than the usual post-modern names for condos and “luxury” buildings, like “The [street the current building faces]” or “Residences at [the thing that was demolished for the current building].”
“The Eliza” is suitably inoffensive.
I will like to get an application
I’m interested in an application
Can I please get a application. Thank you so much.
A sneaking way to get affordable housing. Should be taller.
How do I apply?