Wealthy Manhattan neighborhood in turmoil over plans to build a $3.9 billion prison in the community
A trendy Manhattan neighborhood is in turmoil over plans to build a multibillion-dollar prison.
As part of New York City’s plan to close the infamous Rikers Island, new “community-based” prisons are being built in all New York boroughs except Staten Island – and that includes expensive Manhattan.
The location will be 214-215 White St. in a downtown neighborhood with an astonishing average price tag of $4,285,750.
“It’s very atypical,” says the federal prison consultant Jack Donson tells Realtor.com® about the Chinatown location. “Prisons are normally built outside urban areas.”
Chinatown, also called “East Tribeca” or “Two Bridges” in an effort by real estate agents to beautify the area, has seen a 7.3% increase in prices since December 2019, peaking at just under $5 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to data from Realtor.com.
That’s as steep as Nantucket, MA, ($5.3 million) and much more expensive than Palm Beach, FL ($3.2 million).
Neighbors are not happy.
“Blood on your hands,” one participant posted during a recent Zoom meeting to discuss the details of the plan The city. “That’s why you’re wearing a pink shirt,” the same person told a representative of Teacher Perinicontracted the company to build the prison.
“You’re going to waste years of time and billions of community dollars,” another claimed.
The $3.9 billion prison designed by HOKis located opposite Columbus Park, with the busy Canal Street as a side street. A two-bedroom apartment, an eight-minute walk from the new prison, is for sale for $1.4 million.
The 1,040-bed prison, which will house 4,500 inmates, is expected to be completed in 2032, The City said. The prison is expected to be 90 meters high, making it the tallest prison in the world.
Neighbors are also dissatisfied with the idea of constant construction. Crews plan to work Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to midnight, and on Saturday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Interest group Neighbors united under canal (NUBC) has filed a lawsuit to stop the project. The group argues that the site should instead be used for affordable housing and points out that the prison could be built on the site of the old Metropolitan Correctional Center at 150 Park Row.
That center closed in 2021, a few years after the accused sex trafficker was charged Jeffrey Epstein died there by suicide in 2019 and has been vacant since.
“It is in an area where it is much less dangerous to build on,” said NUBC co-founder Jan Lee the outlet told us. (Realtor.com has contacted the group for comment.) That site, however, is owned by the federal government, not the city.
Donson wonders whether the new expensive prisons will make a real difference to the lives of inmates.
“Is the answer conclusive [Rikers] and not address the systemically dysfunctional bureaucracy?” he asks.
Why are new prisons needed?
Critics of Rikers Island say its inconvenient location — it sits on a small island in the East River between The Bronx and LaGuardia Airport — means inmates have to get up as early as 3 a.m. to make court appearances in the city.
The tiring commute is said to have been used to pressure detainees to plead guilty. Moreover, it is extremely difficult for loved ones or legal advisors to visit the prison.
The new “community-based” prisons – in the middle of neighborhoods where valuations have skyrocketed – are all conveniently close to courthouses.
What happens to the home value in the region?
“The construction of a new prison typically puts downward pressure on prices as potential homeowners are reluctant to have a large fortified building in their neighborhood and fears of nighttime traffic and crime (although unfounded) increase,” says Joel Bernersenior economist at Realtor.com.
“No one wants a jail in the area, I don’t think it’s crazy to say that,” said Douglas Elliman, top 1% rental agent Keyan Sanaiwhich representatives are in the area, Realtor.com tells us. “It’s not positive.”
But he states that it does not necessarily have to be a big negative. “It’s a maximum security prison,” he says. ‘What are you worried about? When was the last time you heard of a prison break?”
“It adds a level of safety,” he adds. “There will be armed guards outside.”
He claims those who find the perfect downtown won’t let a nearby prison deter them from staying in the neighborhood of their choice.
“It’s New York. We all live on top of each other. This isn’t California, where you have the ‘nice’ area and then drive 15 minutes to the ‘bad’ area,” he says.
“It’s not uncommon to go to someone’s $20 million apartment and next door is Section 8 [low income] housing. That’s Manhattan. It’s an island with a finite amount of space.”
“Real estate depends on both reality and perception,” Jenny Lenzdirector of Dolly Lenz real estate in Manhattan, says Realtor.com. “A prison is a textbook example of the use of stigma even without any real change in safety or crime levels. Some buyers and renters will automatically discount nearby properties simply because they dislike the association.”
“However, the effect would be very local,” she adds. “The adjacent properties may take a hit, but a few blocks away the impact will be less noticeable.”
A prison is not always harmful to prices
You don’t have to look too far for an example of a neighborhood that did not suffer from the presence of a prison.
An old correctional facility on bustling Atlantic Avenue in the Boerum Hill The Brooklyn borough has not been able to prevent the area from exploding with high-quality retail and residential buildings.
That prison was demolished and a new detention center is being built on the same site. The 100-foot-tall building, designed by HOK and developed by the NYC Department of Design and Construction, will span 712,150 square feet and house 1,040 inmates.
Atlantic Avenue is known for its shopping and features a Trader Joe’s, Barnes and Noble, Michaels and PetSmart – all virtually across the street from the prison.
Minutes away are Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill, two of the most coveted and family-friendly neighborhoods in Brooklyn, with median home prices of $2.95 million and $2.42 million, respectively.
Brooklyn also has a detention center in Sunset Park, which has housed quite a few notorious inmates, including rappers P. Diddyaccused the United Healthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangioneand exiled Chinese billionaire Miles Guo.
The area’s median home price is $650,000, well above the national average list price of $399,950.
