NYC Chinatown residents unveil alternative plan to relocate ‘mega jail’

Community advocates in Manhattan’s Chinatown unveiled a new proposal last week calling for the relocation of a controversial, borough-based jail project as opposition intensifies against what would become one of the world’s tallest detention centers.

The Manhattan jail at 124-125 White Street stems from former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 2017 announcement to create a borough-based jail system replacing Rikers Island, which the City Council voted to shut down in 2019. Major construction of the borough-based jails began in June 2021, but the Manhattan project now faces significant delays, with costs rising from an original $1.7 billion estimate to $3.8 billion and completion pushed to 2032 — though city officials now consider the original 2027 Rikers closure deadline unattainable.

Community group Neighbors United Below Canal (NUBC) filed a lawsuit in 2020 citing the city “underestimates the impacts of the Manhattan jail” on traffic, noise pollution and socioeconomic impacts, initially winning before the city’s successful 2021 appeal. Demolition work that began last spring has disrupted the adjacent Chung Pak senior housing center, with residents reporting structural damage and dust, and one tenant describing constant shaking that feels “like an earthquake is coming.”

NUBC and a new community group, Welcome to Chinatown, held a rally on June 2 to present their “Alternative Plan,” which proposes relocating the Manhattan jail to the currently vacant Metropolitan Correctional Center that closed in 2021. Under their proposal, the 125 White Street site would be converted into 1,040 units of affordable housing, a 25,000-square-foot public plaza and community retail space, while reducing the maximum building height from 335 feet to 235 feet.

NUBC co-founder Jan Lee said the plan “reflects what the community has been asking for all along: more affordable housing and a real voice in what happens to our neighborhood.” The proposal has won support from Councilmember Chris Marte, Assemblymember Grace Lee, State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and other elected officials, with Community Board 1 passing a resolution endorsing the plan last month.

The alternative proposal faces significant obstacles, requiring both city and federal approval since the Metropolitan Correctional Center is a federal facility. Community advocates have contacted Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office, and according to Lee, Schumer has been in touch with the Bureau of Prisons regarding the facility’s status. Time is running short, with Lee warning that the window for changes could be just “a matter of weeks” as “once those boring tests are over, the bulldozers come in.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Adams’ office maintains that any decision to relocate the jail must go through the City Council. He noted that the original Chinatown site selection occurred under the previous administration, with a spokesperson stating, “the contract to build the Manhattan-based borough jail at this site has already been signed and the work has already begun.”