One of the East Village's more unlikely development sites, the NYPD's parking lot on East Fifth Street, is on track to trade squad cars for income-restricted apartments. The city plans to turn the 9th Precinct's vehicle storage lot at 324 East 5th Street, between First and Second avenues, into 100% affordable housing, putting a small but high-value chunk of public land at the center of neighborhood arguments over parking, permanence and who gets to control the block's future.
The Department of Housing Preservation and Development is running a formal request-for-proposals for the 11,540-square-foot site and says it is now evaluating submissions from developer teams, after releasing the RFP in May 2025. The agency says the project is intended to create "100 percent affordable" units and notes that it grew out of planning tied to the SoHo/NoHo neighborhood commitments. According to the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, HPD is in the submissions-review phase.
An HPD addendum to the RFP also tackles the sensitive question of what happens to NYPD parking. The document states, "Yes, the NYPD parking space will be a condominium that will be conveyed back to the City." It advises teams to plan for roughly 25 replacement spots on the ground floor, with the rest of the site devoted to housing. The details on the parking condo and stall counts are laid out by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
Local preservation and neighborhood groups are pushing for guarantees that the homes remain permanently affordable and that community ownership tools stay on the table, especially for seniors and other vulnerable tenants. Village Preservation, which has tracked the plan since HPD's early outreach, has urged the city to build in enforceable permanence measures and to consider options such as cooperatives or a community land trust so prices do not drift back to market levels. Village Preservation has posted detailed guidance on what it wants to see in developer proposals.
An update published July 13, 2026, by Crain's New York Business places the East Fifth Street lot inside a wider mayoral push to turn underused municipal parcels into affordable housing. That coverage casts the site as one of several city-controlled properties being lined up to add income-restricted apartments in areas that already have strong transit access and neighborhood services.
Next steps and timeline
HPD describes the RFP process as multi-stage, with community visioning, proposals, developer designation, public approvals and then construction, and notes that it typically takes years before any new apartments are ready for renters. Local planning coverage indicates that HPD has already held workshops and taken input from Manhattan Community Board 3, and the agency is expected to return with updates once it narrows the field of developer teams. CityLand has followed the outreach and early scheduling.
Legal review and parking questions
The project will need formal land-use review and other public approvals, and HPD says it will coordinate with the NYPD on an on-site replacement parking setup that can be folded into the new building. Residents can expect public meetings and ULURP hearings before any developer is officially chosen and construction can get underway. For now, the agency is reviewing proposals while neighborhood groups keep a close eye on how long-term affordability, concrete community benefits and the future of police parking are addressed in the plans.
