Chelsea-Elliott Residents Rally to Overturn Demolition Plans

Residents of the Fulton & Elliott-Chelsea Houses rallied against a plan to demolish the complex and replace it with a mixed-use development on Jan. 14, where they were joined by the retired politician Thomas Duane.

Duane used to represent the area during two terms in City Council, between 1992 and 1998, as well as during a 13-year stint as a State Senator that began in 1999. He’s now the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that seeks to end the overhaul project entirely, which was filed late last month.

NYCHA has tasked Related Co. with overseeing the project, which tenant groups have estimated will end up costing $2.4 billion. NYCHA and Related Co., meanwhile, have estimated that conducting much-needed repairs on the existing buildings could cost about the same–roughly $2 billion–as replacing them outright.

The project essentially involves temporarily relocating existing tenants, a process which is ongoing, with the supposed promise that they’ll be provided with a new unit in the completed development.

The developers aim to reduce the footprint of the current housing projects from 24 buildings to around six or so (some of which would be towers expected to reach up to 39 stories), with some of its historic low-income housing stock being replaced by market-rate units.

The Jan. 14 presser, held in front of the on-campus Hudson Guild headquarters for the Chelsea Houses at W. 26th St., came after a court hearing.

Layla Law-Gisiko, a local Democratic district leader and community activist who is running for the district’s City Council seat, emceed the proceedings.

Calling the makeover a “well-intentioned project that went way off the track,” Duane explained that the original plan involved refurbishing—rather than demolishing—the housing projects. Now, Duane said that taxpayers would cover the costs of re-housing current tenants in any remade housing complex, via subsidies.

“Let’s go back,” Duane said. “No demolition! Everybody knew that demolition would lead to displacement. Now, we have a complicated scheme, it’s convoluted. Related would be getting a tremendous amount of money from the taxpayers.”

Renee Keitt, who last year won an election to be president of the Elliott-Chelsea Houses Tenants’ Association as an outspoken critic of the privatization plan spoke after Duane. “They’re not doing this for us, everything will be built around us,” Keit said. “We will be contained here in three buildings, while we now have thirteen. That’s not something that should be done. Nobody has asked us...we demand that you start listening.”

Law-Gisiko, who kicked off her City Council campaign in front of another building in the complex (on W. 17th St.) on Jan. 13, called the entire makeover project “extraction” instead of “preservation.” She cited the aforementioned tenant estimates that the demolition project would come in at $2.4 billion, versus an estimate that merely repairing the complex would cost $1.5 billion, which Related Co. and NYCHA dispute.

The most visceral speech came from Doris Ruffin, a 67 year-old tenant of the NYCHA complex who is dealing with multiple myeloma. “People have come at all times, morning and night, and knocked on my door,” she said. “Harassing me, [so I] leave. It is not right. It is not ethical.”

Ruffin said that in addition to going to dialysis multiple times per week, she now has an colostomy bag due to being “upset” over the efforts to get her to move, which she said gives her indigestion.

“Continue to fight. Fight on,” Ruffin said. “I say to the people that are out there listening: ‘Please. Come out and support us. Help us stay in our homes. These are the only homes that we have.’”

Former Mayor Eric Adams said he wanted to get the city “out of the landlord business” and looked on the Chelseas demolition and rebuild plan as a potential model for NYCHA projects across the city.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has so far stayed neutral on the controversial plans for the Chelsea NYCHA project. During a combative Democratic primary that he came from far behind to win, he had supported the housing overhaul known as City of Yes, which is considered a signature accomplishment of the Adams administration. But Mamdani also did not move to keep Dan Garodnick–a popular City Planning Commissioner for the past four years who had helped steer City of Yes through the City Council–in his administration. Garodnick was reportedly hoping to be elevated to a deputy editor post and when it was clear that was not happening told Mamdani he would be stepping down in the coming weeks.