NYCHA Sends Termination Notices to Chelsea Holdouts in $1.2B Rebuild

NYCHA has sent lease termination notices to holdout households at Fulton 11 and Chelsea Addition in Manhattan who have refused to relocate ahead of a $1.2 billion demolish-and-rebuild of the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses with private partners Related Companies and Essence Development, according to The City Reporter. Six households received the termination-of-tenancy notices in the two weeks before the outlet’s September 21 report, the final step after earlier 30-, 60- and 90-day relocation notices dating to fall 2025.

Why it matters

NYCHA’s plan calls for demolishing 18 buildings across the Fulton, Elliott-Chelsea and Chelsea-Elliott Houses complex and replacing them with six new towers plus nine additional buildings carrying 1,000 affordable and 2,500 market-rate units, with Related Companies and Essence Development as the development team. Phase one requires 111 households in Fulton 11 and Chelsea Addition to move into other units within the three developments while their buildings come down and the first replacement tower goes up, a process NYCHA has said will take about three years. A Manhattan appellate court granted a temporary stay on the broader demolition plan earlier this year while a legal challenge proceeds, but the relocation and termination process for these two buildings has continued in parallel.

The numbers

The City Reporter’s September 21 story, citing NYCHA figures, put 73 of the 111 required households as already relocated to other buildings in the three developments. Of the 38 who had not moved, 24 households at Chelsea Addition have sued NYCHA rather than relocate, alleging the agency is pressuring seniors out of a seniors-only building and into a less secure one. Four households at Fulton 11 are now facing eviction proceedings on “failure to transfer” grounds; one of the four has since agreed to move and one is separately being held over an unrelated nonpayment issue. NYCHA spokesperson Matthew Horgan told the outlet the households “have been offered new apartments…but have failed to relocate, which is a breach of the rules.”

What’s next

The termination notices start the clock on formal eviction proceedings for the remaining Fulton 11 holdouts, while the Chelsea Addition lawsuit could delay any termination action there until a court rules. With 34% of phase-one households still unmoved seven months after the first 30-day notices went out, the pace of relocation – not the demolition permits – is now the binding constraint on when Related and Essence can start on the first replacement tower. Our New York desk is tracking the project alongside NYCHA’s other Manhattan public-private redevelopments.