Project Description
The proposal involves an application by HPD, on behalf of the project sponsors, Irish Arts Center and Clinton Housing Development Corporation (CHDC), for several discretionary actions, including the disposition of City-owned property, project approval and designation as an Urban Development Action Area Project (UDAAP), and a Mayoral Zoning Override. The proposed action would facilitate the development of a new 8-story facility for the IAC at 726 Eleventh Avenue and 553 West 51st Street (Block 1080, portion of Lot 103). The proposed facility would be approximately 35,900 gross square feet (gsf) in size and would include a 199-seat multi-purpose performing arts theater, a dance rehearsal studio for rehearsal and teaching, two classrooms, administrative space, communal space at ground and basement level that will accommodate accessory food and beverage services and small performances, and an outdoor terrace. The proposed facility would replace the existing structures on the project site, but would retain and preserve the street-facing brick facades of the existing structures along Eleventh Avenue and West 51st Street. The paved portion of the project site adjacent to the west of the existing IAC facility would be conveyed to CHDC and developed as a community garden, serving as an expansion to the existing Juan Alonzo Garden.
