TOMBS WITH A VIEW

It’s a gated community! Notorious jail eyed for affordable housing

It’s been the site of a jail since 1838, looming large in history and popular culture — “The Tombs.” But under a city plan to close Rikers Island, a new 40-story jail would be built in lower Manhattan, and The Tombs’ cells would be transformed into apartments.

It’s the ultimate gated community. Early deliberations over a new jail site in lower Manhattan include an option to empty the notorious Tombs and convert portions into affordable housing or other community uses, sources familiar with the discussions said Friday.

That plan would be contingent on redeveloping the nearby government building at 80 Centre St., which houses the city’s Marriage Bureau, courtrooms and other offices, into a high-rise jail.

The site, which could go as high as 40 stories, could also include a community component — but the plan does not call for residential uses in the same building as the jail, sources said.

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer said she had several concerns about the project, most of all a projected pace so rushed that it leaves no time for genuine community input.

“The scoping, they want to have it done August 15, so no time for the community to have input,” she told The Post. “You need to give the community more time — that’s the most upsetting thing.”

City Council member Margaret Chin, who as a community leader in the ’80s fought for the neighborhood to get affordable housing for seniors as part of the expansion of the Manhattan Detention Complex, said she’s again planning to advocate for community benefits.

“Today we are presented with an opportunity to take the rest of that land back to create more afford- able housing, cultural amenities and much-needed parking for Chinatown,” she said.

City officials also are considering keeping The Tombs operating as a jail and expanding the site vertically to allow for more detainees to be housed there.

The options, presented to a select group of about 20 elected officials, neighborhood leaders and community-board officers Thursday, stem from the city’s plan to shutter Rikers Island by 2027. That initiative calls for reducing the city’s jail population to about 5,000 and dispersing the inmates to facilities in every borough except Staten Island.

Each borough with a site would be responsible for housing detainees who live in that borough. City officials have said they want to put the facilities near courthouses, in order to ease the transport of prisoners to judicial appearances.

Community Board 1 chair Anthony Notaro, who attended the briefing with city officials, said they’re looking to find space for 1,500 prisoners.

The Tombs has a capacity of about 900.

“They want to move quickly on getting out an EIS,” he said, referring to the mandated Environmental Impact Statement. “There’s a lot of work done and the administration is committed to making this [closing Rikers] happen.”

Additional reporting by Nolan Hicks