[NYguy]

https://www.westsiderag.com/2025/07/30/c...ng-and-add-housing-with-affordable-units

City Proposal Would Replace an UWS Library Building and Add Housing with Affordable Units


July 30, 2025
By Scott Etkin

With New York City desperate for more housing, plans are in the works to bring as many as 850 apartments, including affordable units, to the Upper West Side in an unlikely place: the site of an existing branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL).

The redevelopment project would begin with demolishing the current Bloomingdale Library building at 150 West 100th Street. The building has served as a branch of the NYPL since 1960. In its place, the city is proposing to build a new library and health services facility, with housing, including affordable units, stacked on top.

The project is in its early phases, meaning that it’s too early to tell exactly how big the building would be, how many affordable units it would have, and how much its units would cost

“The City is aiming for the project to deliver approximately 850 residential units, including permanently affordable homes,” a representative from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), the organization leading the redevelopment, wrote in response to questions from the Rag. A press release from Mayor Eric Adams’s State of the City address referred to the project as “the largest co-located library project in New York City history, bringing over 800 units of mixed-income housing.”

The project stems from the mayor’s executive order for all NYC government agencies to identify potential opportunities to build housing on their sites. The site of the Bloomingdale Library “was identified as having high potential,” the EDC spokesperson wrote.

The current library is expected to remain open until construction begins, after which it will relocate to a temporary site for the duration of the project.

In addition, the EDC is partnering with the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which currently uses 160 West 100th Street—on the same site—for a food safety training course that certifies food service employees. The building also houses administrative offices for the department’s Family and Child Health programs.

The original Bloomingdale Library branch opened in 1826 at 206 West 100th Street as part of the New York Free Circulating Library system. In 1831, it became part of the New York Public Library. Although the original building still stands and is landmarked, the branch relocated to its current site in 1960. Most recently, the building underwent renovations in 2021 to improve accessibility, update infrastructure, and add new amenities.