Residents protest around the councilman as he discusses upcoming affordable housing vote. | Addy Baird/POLITICO New York Councilman opposes city-backed plan for development in Inwood

A proposed 15-story residential building in a low-rise neighborhood in upper Manhattan has been halted amid community opposition, delivering a disappointment to Mayor Bill de Blasio as he seeks to expand affordable housing throughout the city.

Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez told hundreds of residents gathered to protest the development in Inwood on Monday night that he will not support it, effectively killing any hope the developers had of rezoning the land to allow for a larger building that would have included below-market-rate apartments.


"Gentrification has been happening in northern Manhattan for the last 20 years. We have a crisis on our hands that began under previous administrations," Rodriguez said, standing next to his family and staff.

It was not immediately clear where he was headed, and one demonstrator shouted, "Get to the point!"

After speaking for about 30 minutes in English and Spanish, Rodriguez concluded, "We've now been able to get to a point where I feel it is in the community's best interest to not move this spot rezoning forward."

The crowd erupted into applause and staged an impromptu parade.

While the building would not have put a sizable dent in the mayor's goal of creating 80,000 new low- to middle-income apartments, it was symbolically significant. It marked first private application under the city's new Mandatory Inclusionary Housing policy, which passed the City Council in March. The regulation requires at least one-fifth of all apartments built through a city-issued rezoning to be rented to below-market-rate tenants.

In this case, city officials said they had reached an agreement with the developer — a partnership of Washington Square Partners and Acadia Realty Trust — to pay subsidies so that half the 355 apartments would be rented at less than market rate.

"We believe a project with 50 percent affordable housing would better serve this community than a project that is 100 percent luxury," de Blasio spokesman Austin Finan said in an email.

The rezoning would have allowed the developers to construct a 17-story building on the corner of Broadway and Sherman Avenue, currently the site of a parking garage. They agreed in a negotiation with Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer to top the structure at 15 stories.

The building was slated to be 369,000 square feet, about 20 percent larger than would be allowed without a rezoning. Nevertheless, the builders have said they could still put up a market-rate complex of 14 stories without city approval.

Had the agreement gone through, the city would have added 178 new apartments to the tally of below-market-rate homes it has constructed on de Blasio's watch, according to earlier estimates from the developer.

Rodriguez has had a difficult time finding his footing on the proposal, which, like all land use matters, is largely determined by the local City Council member.

He tentatively scheduled a committee vote last week, but canceled it the night before — two days after he made a surprise appearance at a protest in the neighborhood, where he was denounced.

At the same time he indicated concern about the market-rate building the developers could construct, tweeting last Monday night, "A no vote on Sherman-Broadway can mean at LEAST 14 stories of luxury rate apartments, 0 affordable. I continue to listen to my community."

Last Tuesday, he tweeted that a new vote had been scheduled for Aug. 16.

He then continued to negotiate with the administration and the developers. Several sources close to the talks said he began asking for perks the mayor's team found too costly.

On Sunday evening, he issued a press release announcing his plans to unveil his position on the proposal on Monday, a day before the Council vote. Five hours later, he issued a different advisory, saying only that he would address the community about the proposal. In between his releases, protesters blasted off an email announcing their plans to demonstrate at the site of his news conference.

An aide said there had been a mistake in the initial press release and that the project was still under negotiation.

Although Rodriguez opened his speech Monday by telling protesters that he would not discuss his decision, a spokesperson for the councilman, Russell Murphy, told POLITICO New York that he had made up his mind to oppose it, as he went on to say, and that the decision was part of the prepared remarks.

As of Monday evening, a vote for the project was still listed on the Council's calendar for Tuesday.

CORRECTION: The original version of this article has been changed to reflect the fact that Rodriguez initially said he would not discuss his decision, not that he hadn't made up his mind.