HUD Approves Redevelopment of Fulton And Elliott-Chelsea Houses In Chelsea, Manhattan

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has approved the redevelopment of Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses, a two-campus public housing assemblage in Chelsea, Manhattan. Designed by PAU, COOKFOX Architects, and Ismael Leyva Architects and developed by Essence Development and Related Companies under the Elliott Fulton LLC, the project will yield up to 5,510 apartments, of which up to 3,094 will be reserved for permanently affordable housing. The plan also includes new healthcare facilities, community centers, grocery and retail stores, and outdoor recreational space. The campuses are located between West 16th and West 19th Streets and between West 25th and West 27th Streets, respectively, each spanning from Ninth to Tenth Avenue.

Under the plan, all 2,056 existing apartments will be replaced one-for-one in brand-new NYCHA buildings, with only 6 percent of residents required to move temporarily during construction. An additional 3,454 mixed-income apartments will follow, 1,038 of them reserved at affordable rates. The rebuilt units will feature resident-controlled heating and cooling, dishwashers, and in-unit washers and dryers, and each campus will gain a new grocery store. Once fully complete, the project will address over $900 million in mounting physical needs.

Rendering of Fulton And Elliott-Chelsea Houses, via nyc.gov.

The master plan, first announced in June 2023, replaces the campuses’ towers-in-the-park design with a perimeter-block massing that reengages the surrounding street grid. At Fulton, a linear park will span the blocks between West 16th and West 19th Streets. Construction will proceed in two phases, allowing the vast majority of residents to remain in their existing apartments until their replacement homes are finished.

Fulton Houses yields 944 units in buildings designed by Brown & Guenther and completed in 1965. To the north, Elliott-Chelsea Houses comprises 1,111 units, including the 1947 Elliott Houses by William Lescaze and the 1964 Chelsea Houses by Paul L. Wood. More than 4,500 residents live across the two campuses. NYCHA’s board approved the redevelopment in November 2024, and the projected cost has since risen to roughly $2 billion.

Phase one construction is expected to span approximately three years, with full build-out of both campuses targeted within eight years, according to project documents.

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