**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE **
PRESS RELEASE for: Thursday, December 11, 2025
Media Contact: Reuben Torres | [email protected] | (551) 287-9805
NEW YORK – Today, outgoing Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine announced his support for Hill Top Apartments, a project that will bring 200 badly needed units of supportive and permanently affordable housing to Harlem. The site, located at 1727 Amsterdam Avenue, will also include community health space that will be run by the Emma L. Bowen Community Service Center. This project represents Levine’s final ULURP recommendation as Borough President, bringing the total number of units approved through his office to more than 17,000.
“I have spent years fighting to bring this project to reality because we desperately need the supportive and permanently affordable units it will create,” said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine. “Every painstaking step of this process has required our coalition of housing, community and healthcare advocates to work tirelessly together, and I’m enormously proud of the step forward we are taking today. We can’t afford to wait any longer to address the urgent need for housing across our city and it is about time we move this project forward.”
The project includes space for the Emma L. Bowen Community Service Center, a current lessee and non-profit mental health organization, so that it can return to the site once construction is complete. Borough President Mark Levine and City Council Member Shaun Abreu, have also secured funds to ensure that Emma L. Bowen can relocate and continue operations during the construction period.
“New York City is facing an unprecedented housing and homelessness crisis,” said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine. “The average Manhattan rent has reached $5,650/month, and with a citywide vacancy rate of around 1.4%, more than 4,000 New Yorkers are sleeping on streets and subways. It is essential that affordable housing projects are made possible in order to combat this crisis.”
“Thanks to the strong leadership of Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, Council Member Shaun Abreu, and Senator Cordell Cleare, the Bowen Center’s comprehensive mental health, addiction treatment, and supportive services will continue to serve the community at a temporary location just a few blocks away. Their support also ensures our return to the redeveloped 1727 Amsterdam Avenue site in a new purpose-built space designed specifically for our programs and services, keeping the Bowen Center rooted in Harlem and positioning us to serve generations to come,” said Emma L. Bowen Community Service Center Board Chair Patricia C. Jordan.
The site at 1727 Amsterdam was identified in the Borough President’s 2023 Housing Manhattanites report as a site that could unlock badly needed housing. Today’s announcement makes an important step forward on a major West Harlem site in that report.
