A Park Avenue lot that has long served the NYPD is set to make way for one of East Harlem’s largest affordable housing projects. The development plans include a 19- to 20-story building featuring hundreds of deeply subsidized apartments, nearly 100 supportive units for formerly homeless residents, and a multipurpose Afro-Latin performance and education center. Developers say the project will also include a replacement garage, allowing the police department to retain its parking while the neighborhood gains new housing.
As outlined by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the site is the former NYPD 25th Precinct parking lot on the east side of Park Avenue between East 118th and East 119th Streets and is being advanced as a project called Timbale Terrace. Public filings and hearing materials list Lantern Organization and Mega Group Development on the team, and the proposal was reviewed by the City Planning Commission in late 2023, according to CityLand.
What the tower will include
Partner releases and reporting put the total size at roughly 340 apartments, with about 97 to 99 units reserved as supportive homes for people who have experienced homelessness. The ground and lower floors will house Casa Belongó, the Afro-Latin music and arts center led by Arturo O’Farrill, in roughly 20,000 square feet of cultural space, as per New York YIMBY. Designers say the building will feature terraces, community rooms and on-site social services for residents.
Rents, price tag and the mayor's push
The New York Times reports the project carries roughly a $255 million price tag and will target very low rents for many units, with the paper citing one-bedrooms at about $900 and two-bedrooms near $2,550. The Times also reports that Mayor Zohran Mamdani has directed agencies to hunt for public sites that could yield at least 25,000 homes over the next decade, and Michael Sandler, an HPD associate commissioner, told the paper that converting parking lots like this one "can make a real impact on our overall supply of housing.
Local reaction and timeline
Project partners have scheduled a groundbreaking for Wednesday, February 18, 2026, which will include remarks and performances by Belongó, as reported by Shore Fire Media. Local housing advocates and community partners have framed the plan as a chance to pair deeply affordable apartments with cultural programming, while public hearings and filings show officials required continued community engagement as the proposal moved through approvals, Shore Fire Media reports.
What this signals about public land
Timbale Terrace illustrates a wider city strategy of converting underused public parcels—ranging from depot and school lots to municipal parking—into housing, aiming to increase supply without displacing private development. City reports and planning documents note that although New York adds about 25,000 homes annually, demand exceeds supply, making public-land conversions both a politically and practically significant approach to expanding affordable housing.
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