This grey-brick, 21-story rental apartment building at 21 Leonard Street at Broadway opened in 2007 and contains 352 apartments.

According to a May 2, 2006 article in the TriBeCa Trib by Barry Owens "the developer of 88 Leonard Street, Leviev Boymelgreen, received $112.5 million in tax-free Liberty Bond financing, which requires that five percent of the building’s units meet affordable housing requirements. Under the 421a exemption, the developer also got a tax break of more than $750,000. The report said that only 17 units would be set aside for families earning less than $105,000 per year."

At a rally across the street from 88 Leonard last month, affordable housing advocates presented the building as an example of what they say is wrong with the city’s "421a program," which gives tax breaks to developers of residential buildings. The program is a holdover from the 1970s, when the city’s housing market was plummeting. These days, housing advocates said, those tax benefits too often go to developers who build luxury housing in thriving and pricey Manhattan neighborhoods.

Housing advocates organized the rally to draw attention to a new report from Habitat for Humanity and the Pratt Center for Community Development that listed 10 examples of developments in Manhattan that have benefited from the tax breaks but do not offer housing for moderate- to low-income residents.

The list included four TriBeCa buildings: 88 Leonard Street; 336 Broadway, 147 Chambers Street; and 124 Hudson Street.

The report was released on the eve of the first meeting of a city task force that was intended to look into the tax break program, which was started in 1971.

Brad Lander, executive director of the Pratt Center for Community Development and a member of the task force, said the tax break should go only to developers that include low- and moderate-income units in their buildings.

"This is a symptom of a world upside down," said Roland Lewis, executive director of Habitat for Humanity–New York City. "This building behind us is being subsidized by the taxpayers, but the taxpayers can’t afford to live there."

"[Developers] are simply playing by the rules," Lewis said. "But thousands of hard-working New Yorkers are playing by the rules, too, and they can’t afford decent homes. It’s time to change the rules."

The large, L-shaped building, which is also known as 341-7 Broadway, has a circular swimming pool, a gym, a 200-space garage, a concierge, a doorman, a roofdeck, a garden, a lounge with a fireplace, tenant storage, a spa terrace with outdoor whirlpool, a 4,200-square-foot community facility, and 7,200 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.

The building, which has an entrance marquee and a two-story-high lobby, some balconies and some terraces and discrete air-conditioning units, was designed by Costas Kondylis and Partners LLP.