On May 18, 2026, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the development team converting the former Lincoln Correctional Facility in Harlem had closed on $97.8 million in financing. The project, named Seneca, will transform the long-vacant 22-story state-owned building at 31-33 West 110th Street into 105 affordable cooperative homeownership units.
The development team is led by Lemor Development Group, Infinite Horizons, L+M Development Partners, and Urbane Development Group. The partnership is 65 percent Minority-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE). The completed building will be NYC's tallest 100 percent affordable homeownership development to meet Passive House certification standards.
The project also drew, when first unveiled in 2024 and 2025, criticism from Harlem residents and community leaders who questioned whether the income tiers at which the units would be priced would be reachable for the majority of longtime Harlem residents. The financing close in May 2026 is a procedural milestone; the affordability questions raised by community members in earlier coverage remain unresolved.
What the project delivers
The 105 cooperative homeownership units will be offered to households earning between 40 percent and 100 percent of Area Median Income (AMI), according to coverage from Connect CRE and other sources.
For context, for NYC in 2025 (the most recent year with confirmed AMI data), 100 percent AMI for a household of four was approximately $174,200. 80 percent AMI was approximately $139,360. 40 percent AMI was approximately $69,680.
The project is structured as a Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) cooperative. HDFC co-ops are an established NYC form of affordable homeownership in which residents own shares in the corporation that owns the building rather than owning their individual unit outright. This creates a structure in which the building is permanently affordable — units sold by the original purchasers must be re-sold at restricted prices, maintaining affordability for subsequent generations of buyers.
The Seneca project will include:
— 105 affordable cooperative homeownership units across 22 stories. — Community space on the lower floors. — Sustainable design meeting Passive House certification standards. — A location adjacent to Central Park North between Fifth and Lenox Avenues. — Roughly 14 new floors built atop the existing 8-story structure, with the original building interior renovated.
Why the financing close matters
The May 18 announcement is a procedural milestone with operational significance. Affordable housing development in NYC moves through several phases — site designation, conceptual proposal selection, environmental review, financing closure, construction, and lease-up or sale.
The Seneca project began its current phase in March 2023, when Governor Hochul announced the facility would be redeveloped. In December 2023, the development team was selected through a competitive process. In December 2024, the formal proposal was released. In February 2026, the Public Authorities Control Board approved the financial framework with over $28 million in state funding. The May 18 financing close represents the developers' commitment of approximately $97.8 million in total project capital.
Construction is expected to begin in the months following the financing close, with completion projected for 2028 or 2029. Co-op sales would follow completion.
Who the project serves — and who it does not
The income range of 40 percent to 100 percent AMI is designed to capture a broad band of "working middle-income" households. In practice, this means:
— At 40 percent AMI ($69,680 for family of four in 2025): the units serve lower-middle-income working households. This income tier represents a meaningful portion of Harlem's longtime residents.
— At 80 percent AMI ($139,360 for family of four): the units serve households earning approximately the middle range of NYC working-class incomes. Many longtime Harlem residents earn less than this; some earn more.
— At 100 percent AMI ($174,200 for family of four): the units serve households earning meaningfully above the median for both Harlem and NYC overall. Households at this income level have purchasing power that competes with market-rate co-op buyers in many NYC neighborhoods.
The criticism of the Seneca project from Harlem leaders has focused on the upper portion of this range. In coverage from the Amsterdam News in February 2025, Harlem residents and leaders questioned whether 80 percent and 100 percent AMI pricing would be reachable for the majority of longtime Harlem community members. Median household income in Harlem (Manhattan Community District 10) has historically been lower than the citywide median.
Defenders of the project framework have pointed out that:
— MWBE-led development partnerships like the Seneca team provide ownership and economic mobility pathways for minority business owners that are difficult to obtain in market-rate development.
— HDFC cooperatives produce permanent affordability for the units, in contrast to market-rate development which can produce rent or price escalation over time.
— AMI ranges are calibrated to support project financing. Affordable housing developments typically require some units at higher AMI tiers to cross-subsidize lower-AMI units. A 100 percent affordable building cannot be entirely at 40 percent AMI without additional subsidy.
— NYC pricing dynamics affect what "affordable" can mean. Construction costs, land values (in this case, transferred from the state at favorable terms), and operating costs all constrain the range at which affordable units can be financially viable.
The framing question is not whether the project delivers affordable units. By the formal definitions, it does. The question is whether the pricing serves the longtime community in which the project sits.
What this signals about state housing strategy
The Lincoln Correctional Facility redevelopment is one example of Governor Hochul's strategy to repurpose underutilized state-owned land for housing. Other recent examples include other former state facilities and underutilized parcels across the state.
The strategy has several specific characteristics:
— State property is transferred to development teams at favorable terms — typically below market value or through long-term ground leases.
— Development teams are selected through competitive RFP processes with explicit MWBE goals and community-benefit requirements.
— State financing supports the projects through agencies including Empire State Development and Homes and Community Renewal.
— The projects are designed to be permanently affordable through HDFC structures, deed restrictions, or long-term regulatory agreements.
For NYC tenants and renters, the state's underutilized-property strategy is a source of new affordable housing supply that does not require land acquisition in expensive NYC submarkets. The scale is modest — Seneca is 105 units, which is small relative to overall NYC housing need — but the model is replicable for other underutilized state and federal properties.
How Harlem residents can engage with the application process
When Seneca opens for applications (expected approximately 18-24 months from financing close, so projected for 2027-2028), prospective buyers will apply through the standard NYC affordable housing application process.
For HDFC cooperative purchases, the process typically includes:
— Income verification to confirm the household falls within the project's AMI range. — Asset verification to confirm the household's total wealth does not exceed program limits. — Pre-purchase counseling through HUD-approved housing counseling agencies. The Center for NYC Neighborhoods and Asian Americans for Equality are among the organizations that provide pre-purchase counseling for affordable homeownership. — Application to the specific project, often through NYC Housing Connect or a separate application process administered by the development team.
For prospective applicants who anticipate falling within the lower AMI tiers (40-60 percent), the application is most competitive. For applicants in the higher tiers (80-100 percent), the application may be less competitive given the broader pool of eligible households.
For longtime Harlem residents specifically, the project may include community preference provisions giving priority to current Manhattan Community District 10 residents — though the specific provisions of the Seneca lottery have not yet been publicly detailed.
What is unresolved
Several specific questions remain open as the project advances toward construction:
Lottery preference structure. Whether and to what extent Manhattan Community District 10 residents will receive priority in the Seneca lottery has not been formally announced.
Specific unit pricing. The exact prices at each AMI tier will be set closer to the application launch, based on prevailing AMI calculations and project financing requirements.
Community space programming. The community space on the building's lower floors will be programmed through partnerships with neighborhood organizations. The specific programming has not been finalized.
Construction timeline. Whether the project completes on the projected 2028-2029 timeline depends on construction conditions, supply costs, and project execution.
The financing is closed. Construction is forthcoming. The Seneca project will deliver 105 affordable cooperative homeownership units in Harlem. The deeper question — whether the project effectively serves the longtime Harlem community it sits within — will be answerable through the application data once the project opens, currently projected for 2027-2028.
Sources: New York State Governor's Office press release, "Governor Hochul Announces Major Milestone in Transformation of Former Lincoln Correctional Facility into $98 Million Affordable Homeownership Development in Harlem" (May 18, 2026); Empire State Development announcement of Seneca proposal selection (December 2023); Empire State Development press release on PACB funding approval (February 2026); Long Island.com coverage of the financing milestone (May 18, 2026); Connect CRE coverage (May 19, 2026); New York YIMBY coverage (May 19, 2026); Amsterdam News, "Plan unveiled that may shut out Harlem residents from promised affordable housing" (February 6, 2025); statements from Governor Hochul, Empire State Development President Hope Knight, and Homes and Community Renewal Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas as quoted in the cited coverage; NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development public guidance on HDFC cooperatives at nyc.gov/site/hpd; The Center for NYC Neighborhoods and Asian Americans for Equality pre-purchase counseling intake guidance.
