Public-Private Partnership Transforms NYCHA Harborview Terrace with $3.8M Redesign

A $3.8 million transformation of Harborview Terrace, a NYCHA public housing complex in Manhattan, has been completed by Grain Collective in partnership with The Pershing Square Foundation, the Public Housing Community Fund, and NYCHA. The project, spanning over 33,000 square feet across four sites on both sides of West 55th Street, includes an intergenerational plaza with water play equipment, a climbing structure, a multi-use lawn with stepped seating and a stage, a renovated fitness area, and a senior recreation zone. Artist Laura Alvarez created new murals funded by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi. The redesign was guided by resident input through Grain Collective's Connected Communities framework, marking a departure from typical city-funded public housing improvements by operating as a public-private partnership outside standard capital budgets. This is the second phase of a broader campus overhaul; the first phase in 2023 added a basketball court, pickleball court, and murals across 20,000 square feet.