According to what residents heard at the Miccio Center, Red Hook East and West will all have all-new roofs, a new heating system for every building, brand new playgrounds, new doors, surveillance cameras and better security access, together with some nice landscaping by the summer of 2021.
The money for all of this comes from FEMA. This is money that was allocated for the New York/New Jersey area following Hurricane Sandy. Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez was able to obtain over $500 million for the Red Hook Houses.
A project update, including the timeline mentioned above, was presented to the the community on February 7 at a meeting in the freshly painted Miccio Community Center.
Joy Sinderbrand, the Vice President for NYCHA’s Recover and Resilience Department, showed how the building plans have changed over the last few years in response to community input.
The biggest changes were in the downsizing of the two power plants – one next to 135 Mill Street and the other on Columbia Street, close to the new Seinor Center. Care was taken by the architectural firm KPF to create buildings that are size appropriate and attractive and respectful of the housing population.
The roof contractors were made to provide 30 year guarantees – any repairs will be made by them. The power plants will be designed to make future maintenance by NYCHA workers simple.
The first phase of construction is the roof replacement, which started towards the end of 2017 and will end by the end of 2019.
The second phase, which begins later in 2018 and ends at some point in 2021, will include work on East and West Plants, MEP Pods and Distribution.
The third phase, which will begin later in 2018 than the second phase and end in 2021, will include basement restoration, flood protection and overall site restoration.
According to Sinderbrand, the buildings will be resilient and energy efficient. They also retained the green roof from the original plan, and during the construction they will be replacing the common areas and playgrounds.
David Stahl, who is the site director, said that parts of the buildings will be closed off one at a time to expedite the construction. There will be seven phases of the building construction, and he will be in charge of implementing new roofs and walls. Red Hook East and West will have back up power, in case of an emergency.
Laura Gibson, Sandy Workforce Development Manager, gave an update on the hiring process.
“Similar to every other aspect of our office, me and my team are solely focused on Sandy work and Sandy jobs,” Gibson said. “We have 744 new jobs and 444 of these have gone to low income NYC residents. Out of those, 296 are NYCHA residents.”
Peak hiring is expected to occur in 2019, midway through the reconstruction timeline.
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