Mayor Adams, City Planning Kick Off Public Review on MTA Project to Create Nearly 700 Homes Above Future 125th Street Subway Stop

May 19, 2025

Proposal Will Deliver Over 150 Permanently-Affordable and Income-Restricted Homes Above Future Subway Station in East Harlem 

Announcement Marks First Non-City Application to Utilize New Zoning Tools from “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” to Deliver More Housing  

Proposal Will Help Fulfill Mayor Adams’ “Manhattan Plan” to Build 100,000 New Homes Across Borough Over Next Decade 

NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) Director and City Planning Commission (CPC) Chair Dan Garodnick today announced the start of the public review process on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) 125th and Lexington Rezoning application, an MTA proposal to transform a vacant lot at the corner of East 125th Street and Lexington Avenue in East Harlem into a mixed-use tower with nearly 700 new homes, including over 150 affordable homes. The proposal — which marks the first non-city led land use application to begin public review using the new, high-density zoning districts enabled by Mayor Adams’ “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” plan — will sit above the future terminus of the Second Avenue Subway. Finally, the proposal will help achieve Mayor Adams’ “Manhattan Plan,” first announced in his fourth State of the City address earlier this year, to review zoning across the whole of Manhattan, unlock potential housing sites for development, and add 100,000 new homes to the borough. 

“From our historic ‘City of Yes’ plan to our sweeping neighborhood rezonings, this is the most pro-housing administration in New York City history — full stop,” said Mayor Adams. “These generational initiatives are already making a difference in our city, with proposals like this one in East Harlem taking advantage of ‘City of Yes’ to bring hundreds of homes to the neighborhood. Thank you to the MTA for submitting this ambitious idea that will bring together housing and transit, and for working with the city to deliver the homes that New Yorkers need.” 

“With great access to transportation and a thriving commercial corridor, this corner of East Harlem is exactly the right place to build high-destiny, mixed-income housing, and retail opportunities,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Adolfo Carrión, Jr. “This kind of development is possible through the changes our administration has secured through ‘City of Yes,’ and I commend the MTA for being a partner with us to transform this site into a place of high-quality homes and business opportunity.” 

“The new zoning districts we created through ‘City of Yes’ to allow more housing are designed for central, transit-rich locations — and there’s no place closer to transit than directly above a subway station,” said DCP Director and CPC Chair Garodnick. “I look forward to the City Planning Commission’s review of this proposal, which has the potential to transform a vacant site in the heart of Harlem into hundreds of urgently needed homes.” 

“Access to transit makes living in New York more convenient and affordable, and this area has all kinds of subway, bus, and commuter rail access,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “With the coming Second Avenue Subway extension, this area continues to become even more attractive.” 

Located directly above the site of the future East 125th Street Q train station, the proposed building would rise to 38 stories high and include approximately 680 new homes, with roughly 150 permanently affordable and income-restricted units. 

This centrally located site has sat undeveloped since the closure of the Pathmark supermarket in 2015, saddled with lower-density zoning that did not fully reflect the site’s location on the iconic and transit-rich 125th Street. By shifting to a C6-11 zoning district with a residential Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of 15, the proposal takes advantage of new zoning districts created through “City of Yes” and new tools from Albany to lift the outdated “FAR cap,” opening the door to more housing units on the location. Following successful advocacy in Albany, New York City created new, higher-density zoning districts like this one, which require Mandatory Inclusionary Housing and are powerful tools to create urgently-needed homes for New Yorkers at a wide range of income levels. 

Today’s certification by the CPC marks the beginning of the roughly seven-month public review process for the proposal, which will include reviews by Manhattan Community Board 11 and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, followed by hearings and binding votes at the CPC and the New York City Council. 

Proposals like the one at East 125th Street and Lexington Avenue that take advantage of new zoning tools will be crucial to realizing Mayor Adams’ Manhattan Plan that will add 100,000 new homes to the borough over the next decade. Additionally, Mayor Adams’ Midtown South Mixed-Use Plan would map new, higher-density zoning districts across 42 Manhattan blocks where housing today is largely not permitted, creating around 9,700 homes — including up to 2,800 of them income-restricted and permanently affordable — in Midtown and helping fulfill Mayor Adams’ Manhattan Plan goals. 

Since entering office, Mayor Adams has made historic investments toward creating affordable housing and ensuring more New Yorkers have a place to call home. DCP is advancing several robust neighborhood plans that, if adopted, would deliver more than 40,000 units over the next 15 years, including plans in Midtown South in Manhattan, and both Jamaica and Long Island City in Queens. Earlier this month, the New York City Council Land Use and Zoning Committees unanimously voted in favor of the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan, while, last year, the City Council approved the Bronx-Metro North Station Area Plan, which will create approximately 7,000 homes and 10,000 permanent jobs in the East Bronx.   

Moreover, last December, Mayor Adams celebrated the passage of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, the most pro-housing proposal in city history that will build 80,000 new homes over 15 years. Last month, Mayor Adams announced that New York City will invest $24.7 billion in housing as part of its 10-Year Capital Strategy — including $1 billion as part of City of Yes — as well as make new investments to create and preserve nearly 6,000 units of supportive housing, renovate thousands of New York City Housing Authority units, provide legal services for tenants, and more. Mayor Adams celebrated back-to-back record breaking fiscal years, as well as back-to-back calendar years in both creating and connecting New Yorkers to affordable housing. Last spring, the city celebrated the largest 100 percent affordable housing project in 40 years with the Willets Point transformation.  

Further, the Adams administration is using every tool available to address the city's housing crisis. Mayor Adams announced multiple new tools, including a $4 million state grant, to help New York City homeowners create accessory dwelling units that will not only help older adults afford to remain in the communities they call home but also help build generational wealth.

In addition to creating more housing opportunities, the Adams administration is actively working to strengthen tenant protections and support homeowners. The Partners in Preservation Program was expanded citywide in 2024 through an $11 million investment in local organizations to support tenant organizing and combat harassment in rent-regulated housing. The Homeowner Help Desk, a trusted one-stop shop for low-income homeowners to receive financial and legal counseling from local organizations, was also expanded citywide in 2024 with a $9.85 million funding commitment. 

Finally, Mayor Adams and members of his administration successfully advocated for new tools in the 2024 New York state budget that will spur the creation of urgently needed housing. These tools include a new tax incentive for multifamily rental construction, a tax incentive program to encourage office conversions to create more affordable units, lifting the arbitrary “floor-to-area ratio” cap that held back affordable housing production in certain high-demand areas of the city, and the ability to create a pilot program to legalize and make safe basement apartments.