The city built dozens of middle-income apartments on weed-choked lots.

For the same money, nearly $107,000 per unit, the city could build a new middle-income apartment, and possibly, preserve another affordable unit elsewhere.

About 4,000 new middle-income apartments have been built, and work will soon begin on another 6,000.

Some developers say that even though they find the incentives for the middle-income apartments appealing, they hesitate to incur the wrath of neighbors.

There are now 43 middle-income apartments as well as office and retail space in the former downtown flophouse.

The city, which plans to build 150 middle-income apartments, will seek bids from developers this month.

Lawmakers are split over whether the state should put a moratorium on "buyouts" of the 111,000 middle-income apartments built under the Mitchell-Lama program.

Mayor Koch has a plan to spend $4.2 billion over a decade to build or rehabilitate 252,000 low- and middle-income apartments.

The court-ordered housing remedy, calling for 200 units of public housing on the mostly white east side and another 800 middle-income apartments, angered many residents.

Some of the profits from the sales would be used to help subsidize almost 1,000 apartments for low-, moderate- and middle-income New Yorkers.