River Park Towers

[1] Completed in 1975, they became the tallest buildings in the borough, ahead of Tracey Towers and the multiple high-rises encompassing Co-op City.

Designed by Davis, Brody & Associates, both buildings were built with the intention to provide affordable, yet somewhat modern housing to the working class.

[5] This allowed the River Park Towers, two modern skyscrapers, to be constructed while housing middle-income tenants.

[3] The area purchased (at a very low price) was industrial, with the Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line, the Major Deegan Expressway, and the Harlem River nearby for transportation.

The Towers were sponsored by the New York State Urban Development Corporation, a public agency created by the act of the same name in 1968.

During the late 1990s, an era marked with rampant arson, crime, and drug use, and with a shift of the management company, the living conditions started to deteriorate.

River Park Towers
A diagram of the Harlem River. Although not labeled, the towers are the two tall buildings to the left of the river, in the bottom right corner (on the east bank).