Mamdani Advances 4,000-Unit Plan for 100 Gold Street

New York City will hold its first public hearing on the 100 Gold Street redevelopment on October 29, launching the formal review of a plan to build 4,000 mixed-income units near the Brooklyn Bridge in the Financial District.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration announced the start of the public review process last week. The multi-skyscraper development on the city-owned Lower Manhattan site would deliver approximately 1,000 permanently affordable homes.

"New York's housing crisis demands that we build more—and that we use every tool we have to do it," Mayor Mamdani said in a recent statement. "That means looking at land the City already owns and asking how it can serve New Yorkers better. At 100 Gold Street, we have an opportunity to turn an aging government building into nearly 4,000 new homes, including approximately 1,000 that will remain permanently affordable, while delivering new spaces for the community."

How did the project grow to 4,000 units?

The plan has expanded steadily since Eric Adams, then mayor, first proposed it in January 2025. The Adams administration originally announced more than 1,000 mixed-income units, with at least 25% affordable. Later that year, the administration raised the projection to 3,700 units.

Mamdani has added 300 units, bringing the total to 4,000. A quarter of those units will be affordable. The development aligns with the mayor's housing plan, which targets 200,000 new affordable homes citywide and the preservation of another 200,000 over the next decade.

According to the administration, the project will nearly double the number of permanently affordable homes built in Manhattan Community District 1 over the last decade.

What stands on the site now?

The 100 Gold Street site currently houses city agencies, including the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which will relocate. The site also contains one of New York City's older and largest adult centers, which will be renovated rather than demolished.

GFP Real Estate, selected through a city-run competition, will develop the project. The program includes:

• The revamped adult center
• A commercial fitness center
• 40,000 square feet of neighborhood amenities

The city says all of this will be completed with no funding from the city.

What is the political context?

The announcement follows the city's official end to a yearslong legal and political fight over converting the Elizabeth Street Garden into affordable housing for older New Yorkers.

A lawsuit filed against HPD to halt the demolition of the roughly 20,000-square-foot green space in Lower Manhattan was dropped in August. Mayor Mamdani had backed off the promise to evict the garden and build new housing if elected. Elizabeth Street Garden Inc., a non-profit formed in 2017 to manage and maintain the garden, brought the legal action.

Councilmember Christopher Marte, Lower Manhattan's representative, agreed to support the 100 Gold Street project in exchange for the garden's preservation, according to a letter he sent to City Hall last year.

The October 29 hearing gives New Yorkers their first formal opportunity to weigh in on the skyscraper plan—and the first test of whether the Mamdani administration can convert a broad housing mandate into steel and concrete downtown.