Harlem Renaissance

**Merry** · April 23rd, 2011, 01:19 AM

New Stores Give a Lift to East 125th Street

By MELANIE LEFKOWITZ

When Taso Mastakouris, the owner of a grocery store on the Upper West Side, was looking to expand into a new location, he didn't really consider East Harlem.

Then a customer, Nina DeMartini-Day, talked him into taking space in buildings she co-owns on East 125th Street between Fifth and Madison avenues.

"We just desperately wanted fresh food in the community, and had a lot of offers for the space that were more traditional 125th Street stores, and we just kept looking and looking and looking," says Ms. DeMartini-Day, a developer. "It was a relative risk to come into a neighborhood he wasn't familiar in, and he put a huge investment into the store," she says of Mr. Mastakouris.
The grocery, Wild Olive Market, opened about a year ago in space formerly occupied by a 99-cent store and an African fabric shop, is one of a flurry of new arrivals on its historic stretch of East 125th Street: Sade Skincare, a cosmetics shop; Island Salad, a health-food café; and the Brownstone, a clothing boutique, are among its neighbors.

Some business owners have dubbed the strip "the New Harlem East." It contrasts with the many cellphone-, linen- and sneaker-store-lined strips nearby.

"Every neighborhood needs and wants fresh and original and locally owned products, and they will support them," Ms. DeMartini-Day says.

The development that has transformed swaths of upper Manhattan has been slower to come to East Harlem. City-backed plans to create a 1.7-million-square-foot mixed-use complex known as the East Harlem Media, Educational and Cultural Center were delayed after the economic downturn.

But the first phase of that project, a building with 49 affordable-housing units and 5,600 square feet of retail space, is now under way at East 125th Street and Third Avenue, and is expected to be completed this summer. The developer is looking for retail tenants "that would enhance the current mix," says Julie Wood, a spokeswoman for the New York City Economic Development Corp.

East 125th Street was part of a rezoning approved by the City Council in 2008; most changes from that rezoning—which includes a restriction on the number of street-level stores that may be occupied by banks and offices and a requirement that large developments incorporate arts uses—have yet to materialize, in part because of the downturn.

Officials at the city Planning Department say that over the past year they have seen increased interest in commercial development along the street, including from Applebee's, which recently opened a restaurant at Fifth Avenue.

Meanwhile, several new condominium and rental buildings have sprouted nearby. Fifth on the Park, a 158-unit condominium building at 120th Street, is selling about six to eight apartments a month, says Stephen Kliegerman, executive director of Halstead Property Development Marketing.

"There's a lot more retail filling in all over the place," he says. "Buyers don't just buy into a building—they buy into a neighborhood, so having more retail options is a big sell."

The Tapestry, a 185-unit rental building with affordable and market-rate apartments opened last year at East 124th Street and Second Avenue.

Wild Olive's manager, Tenisha Sterling, says the market has been asked if it could deliver to the Tapestry.

"We really get personal with our customers; we talk with them to see where they're coming from, and a lot of them are from the condos that are coming in," she says. The neighborhood, she says, "is changing; it's getting better fast, it's not like a 10-year turnaround."

Across the street from Wild Olive, Sade Skincare opened in February, the latest business to relocate to the strip.

Two other storefronts on the block are being renovated, amid talk that a vegetarian restaurant is on the way.

Princess Jenkins, owner of the Brownstone, recalled that when she moved to East 125th Street from a brownstone on Fifth Avenue in 2007, there was limited variety in the area's retail stores.

"Now we have an eclectic new block of businesses; it's great," she says. "The block took on new life."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...rk_real_estate

**mariab** · December 10th, 2011, 03:29 PM

Harlem Haven: Area near 145th Street is one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in NYC

By Jason Sheftell
Friday, December 9th 2011, 4:42 PM

James Maher

Anchored by Convent Ave., one of the city’s prettiest brownstone blocks, Harlem around 145th St. and St. Nicholas Ave. is easily one of the fast-growing neighborhoods and potentially explosive housing micro-markets in all of New York City.It has two parks, City College and a buzzing retail corridor on 145th St. with express subways to 59th St. in 13 minutes. Residents say it’s got everything. Especially change. Twenty years ago, the neighborhood was primarily African-American. Now, it’s also Latino, West
African and white.Peace and quiet on the safe side streets, cobblestones, talkative neighbors and plenty of history give this part of Harlem its soul. Longtime residents fight for the area to keep its character. It’s still raw on the edges, which is why we like it. Plus, you get more for your money in Harlem. Everyone knows that. What they don’t know is that 145th St. isn’t that far uptown. Four years ago, though, real estate marketers had trouble getting home buyers near the neighborhood.

EXPLORE: Apartments for sale/rent in Harlem

“We had to pick people up downtown in buses or cars to get anyone to come up here,” says Halstead Property Development Marketing president Stephen G. Kliegerman, whose group pioneered the area’s condo explosion, selling the Langston in 2007. “When they got here they saw the value and a beautiful neighborhood with parks, colleges and incredible brownstones. Right now, there is no better place than 145th St. to buy a home. I’ll say this too, the area between 125th and 150th St. will see the greatest appreciation in home prices over the next 10 years in all of New York City.” Kliegerman knows. His group just sold out PS 90 at 220 W. 148th St. The historic school conversion sold the last of its 75 units last week. In addition, Halstead Property Development Marketing has sold more than 100 units in new Harlem buildings through 2011.

With the recession, some resale prices are down, meaning there is even more value to be had uptown. Large one-bedrooms can be rented for less than $1,500. A three-bedroom new condo on 148th St. can be had for around $495,000.We like it for its feel. As soon as you get off the A train at 145th St. and St. Nicholas Ave., the Harlem hustle and bustle hits you. So do the hills. It’s a steep walk west. Fast-walking pedestrians, honking horns, stands selling rap CDs and the mix of mom-and-pops, Latino restaurants, and real estate agencies merge with banks and Starbucks. It’s all there, from podiatrists to senior centers to a Rite Aid.
Around the corner on Convent Ave., the entire world changes. You can hear a dry leaf hit the street. Townhouse owners tend their stoops. Music can be heard through church doors. At St. Nicholas Park, people walk dogs near the Hamilton Grange National Memorial, the house-turned-museum built by Alexander Hamilton. In the summer, Jackie Robinson Park is swarmed by kids taking dips in the WPA-built pool.The neighborhood is a playground. Now old-timers mix with newcomers. Everyone has opinions. This is Harlem, after all. Here’s what the locals have to say:

PHOTOS: Meet New Yorkers who call Harlem home

http://bestplaces.nydailynews.com/st...ghborhoods-nyc

**Merry** · December 11th, 2011, 05:24 AM

^ That Convent Avenue streetscape is just MAGNIFICENT.

http://technoanthro.blogspot.com/201...tenenbaum.html

http://uptownflavor.wordpress.com/20...akes-the-list/

http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/node/1601161

http://technoanthro.blogspot.com/201...tenenbaum.html

http://thenewyorkcityminute.com/2011...ilton-heights/

http://uptownmagazine.com/2011/07/focus-new-york-2/3/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/professorbop/560658749/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/professorbop/560148122/

http://www.visualphotos.com/image/1x..._york_city_usa

(Huffington Post)

http://harlembespoke.blogspot.com/20...townhouse.html

**Merry** · March 30th, 2012, 10:21 PM

Rezoning Transforms Character of Harlem Boulevard

By PETER SLATIN

The fragile yet promising community of new businesses around Frederick Douglass Boulevard from 110th to 125th Street in Harlem is struggling to maintain the charm that has attracted new residents, shoppers and diners in the face of large-scale development nearby and a still-shaky economy.

Two recent closings — Nectar, a wine bar at 121st Street, and Society, a cafe at 115th Street, both recently shuttered — point up some of the challenges. Among them are the housing slump, which closed off the pipeline of new developments in the area; the arrival of nationwide chain businesses in the district, like a Red Lobster set to open on West 125th Street near the Apollo Theater; and the persistent debate over gentrification.

Louis Gagliano, who in 2007 took over Harlem Flo, a florist at 2292 Frederick Douglass at 123rd Street, and in late 2010 opened Harlem Flo Boutique, a gift shop a block south, said that to compensate for lower-than-expected foot traffic, he has created an active schedule of book signings, tea classes and fashion events. “You have to bring awareness and create other opportunities,” he said.

Nonetheless, independent restaurants and shops continue to sprout along and adjacent to Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Among the newcomers are Harlem Shambles, a butcher shop, and Harlem Tavern, a sports bar with a popular outdoor patio.

Other recent arrivals along the boulevard include Patisserie des Ambassades, a West African bakery that also serves sandwiches and salads; Levain, the cookie purveyor whose other store is on the Upper West Side; Lido, a bustling Italian restaurant; 5 and Diamond, a restaurant that has managed to survive turnover in the kitchen in the last two years; and Melba’s, the soul food restaurant created by a relative of Sylvia Woods, whose namesake restaurant is on Lenox Avenue and 127th Street. There is also a high-quality supermarket, a yoga studio and a CVS.

Marva Allen, who has run the Hue-Man Bookstore & Cafe at 2319 Frederick Douglass near 123rd Street for 10 years, said she was concerned about the development pressures confronting the area.

“Harlem was oversold and underdelivered,” she said, noting that an expected influx of new residents has been slow to build, in part because of the financial crisis that afflicted the condo market in 2008 and 2009, pushing back the pace of construction, although a number of projects have recently opened.

Starting in the early 2000s, condominium and apartment development in the area soared because of Bloomberg administration initiatives and rising housing values.

A 44-block area centered on Frederick Douglass from 110th to 124th Streets and Morningside Park to Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard was one of the first of the Department of City Planning’s rezoning efforts under the leadership of Amanda Burden, said Edwin Marshall, who led the rezoning for the department.

The city saw the area as “an untapped resource,” Mr. Marshall said, referring to great swaths of vacant city-owned land following the extensive seizure of properties across Harlem as landlords walked away from tax bills.

The rezoning led to more foot traffic and more retailers while reducing allowable building heights to 10 to 12 stories from 18 to 20 stories on the boulevards and preserving blocks of brownstones on the side streets.

Some 1,100 housing units have been created in the rezoned area, most along Frederick Douglass.

Kelley Lassman, an associate professor of education at Pace University, was one of the nonresidents who bought into the area as the market grew. Ms. Lassman bought her one-bedroom on West 117th Street in 2008, a year after moving to the city from Nashville. “Then everything crashed. It was really unnerving,” she said.

Her building, a seven-story rehabilitated school now called the Fitzgerald, was one of a few new projects available to buyers at the time. “A lot of the buildings weren’t ready,” she recalled. “Now, there are 15 buildings that are ready for sales. It was a neighborhood in transition.” Ms. Lassman was the first buyer to close, and now just seven of the 47 condos are unsold.

She describes the ethnic makeup of the building as mixed, adding that there are couples with and without children, as well as professionals and artists. “Age-wise, it’s leaning toward younger people,” she said.

Ms. Lassman said that although many people often have “preconceived ideas” about the area, “once they visit they really enjoy it. I like that there’s a lot of economic diversity in this neighborhood.”

One decidedly nonindependent business now operating along Frederick Douglass just south of 125th Street is the Aloft hotel, a 124-room Starwood franchise that opened in December 2010. The general manager, Daniel Fevre, said occupancy for 2012 is expected to be “well above 70 percent.” Planning for the project began six years ago, including ground-floor retail and 44 market-rate condos, most of which have been sold.

Mr. Fevre said his guests reflected the Aloft brand’s younger target market, with a mix of European and Asian customers and a spillover of visitors to nearby Columbia. More than half of the 28-person staff are local residents, he said. Echoing Ms. Lassman, he said that “a lot of my guests are still worried about Harlem. The big challenge is to get everybody to come.”

The late February closing of Nectar, the wine bar at 121st Street, was as much a reflection of the changes taking place along Frederick Douglass Boulevard as was the decision to open it as the economy crested in 2008. Four years earlier, with development beginning to stir, Jai-Jai Greenfield and a partner opened Harlem Vintage, a liquor store next to the Nectar site that has proved more durable.

The optimism behind the wine bar came face to face with the stark reality of still-slow foot traffic, limited hours of operation and its own limited menu and alcohol selection, on top of a struggling economy. Its closing as other businesses arrive reflects a developing streetscape that is only slowly catching up to the dreams of some of its biggest boosters.

Even that pace may feel too rapid and sweeping for some longtime business owners and residents, who will most feel the pinch of rising rents along with the more benign effects of gentrification.

The benefits of growth, including greater retail diversity, increased services, new residential units and safer, busier streets also can price out neighbors and shops of long standing.

Ms. Allen said some of the businesses that are arriving in the district, like the Red Lobster, represent a mainstreaming that suggest the area is “not even Harlem any more.” But she said that “business has grown every year” at Hue-Man Books. “It’s a niche market bookstore,” she said, “so it’s not as affected as other independents.”

And though she clearly has her concerns about where Harlem may be headed, she is also hopeful. “It would be great to retain its villagelike quality,” she said. “I hope it can be sustained.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/re...yrzVbsoG9zBgUQ

**Gulcrapek** · April 7th, 2012, 10:54 PM

This seemed like the only relevant thread for this, so... Harlem Hospital addition, April 2012

**Gulcrapek** · April 27th, 2012, 10:55 PM

Fence is up for the elevator tower addition to the Convent Avenue Baptist Church (at 145th St.).

Rendering from DNAinfo

Apparently a transparent design was proposed first but rejected, so there's this.

**Merry** · May 4th, 2012, 08:24 AM

Central Harlem Landmark Plan to Push for New Historic Districts

By Jeff Mays

Striver Row at 139th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Frederick Douglass Boulevard.

This row of townhouses is located across from Marcus Garvey Park in the Mount Morris Park historic district.

These brownstones are located on Lenox Avenue in the Mount Morris Park historic district.

This row of brownstones is located on West 120th Street in the Mount Morris Park Historic District.

HARLEM — A swath of Central Harlem is being primed for landmarking under the first-ever comprehensive preservation plan for the area approved by the local community board this week.
There are so many important buildings and sites in Central Harlem that are 100 years old or older that Harlem has room for nine potential historic districts, according to the plan, which was approved by Community Board 10 Wednesday.

There are currently only two historic districts in Harlem — Mount Morris Park and Striver's Row — meaning only 3.6 percent of Central Harlem is protected under the designation, compared to 10.6 percent for all of Manhattan and 26 percent for the Upper West Side.

"One of the critical things that we know is that Harlem in itself has very little designation, but we do have a concentration of a lot of older buildings," said Betty Dubuisson, chair of CB 10's Landmark Committee, at an earlier meeting about the plan.

The CB10 preservation plan will now be sent to the Landmark Preservation Commission and elected officials to gather support for the report's recommendations.

"By looking at it as a comprehensive plan, you can start mapping what you think you want the future of your community to be," said Simeon Bankoff, executive Director of the Historic Districts Council. "It can guide economic development, land use development and guide the area into a place where you want to live and work."

Michael Henry Adams, a Harlem preservationist and historian who worked on the plan in his job as Community Cultural Associate for state Sen. Bill Perkins, said he hopes the proposal will prevent a repeat of what happened 15 years ago, when he recommended that several buildings be landmarked on an emergency basis.

"Not every building, but most on that list, have subsequently been destroyed or are planned to be destroyed," said Adams, adding he had high hopes for the current preservation plan. "We are light years away from where we were 15 years ago."

Among the nine new areas that will be considered for historic preservation districts is Astor Row at 130th Street between Fifth and Lenox Avenues, with its collection of semi-detached row houses.

The row houses on the south side of the street are already individually landmarked, but the stately brownstones on the north side of the street remain unprotected.
West 147th to 149th streets, between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, has a cohesive group of buildings with first-story white limestone and beige brick upper floors.

From 130th to 133rd streets, between Lenox Avenue and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, 190 row houses were built before the turn of the 20th century and It is one of the first examples of row house neighborhoods in Upper Manhattan. Originally built for wealthy white families, it was also one of the first Upper Manhattan neighborhoods to become predominantly African-American.

The board is also recommending an extension of the existing Striver's Row historic district from as far south as 135th Street and as far north as 140th Street, along with the planned extension of the existing Mount Morris Park Historic District.

"This is good news," said Adams of the preservation plan. "This has been a long time in the making," he added.

The idea for the plan began about five years ago when the rezoning of 125th Street drew attention to the fact that many important local landmarks sat unprotected.

"Both the community and community board expressed a lot concern that we did not have enough of our district that was being preserved," said Dubuisson.

There are currently 28 individual landmarks in Community Board 10. But others, such as the old Blumstein's building now occupied by Touro College, and the Harlem Branch of the New York Public Library at 124th Street, are potential nominees.

Only two interior landmarks exist within Community Board 10 — the Apollo Theater and the Play Center Bath House at Jackie Robinson Park. Other potential interior landmark nominees include the Hansborough Recreation Center on 134th Street between Lenox and Fifth avenues, and Lenox Lounge, which is in danger of going out of business because of increasing rent.

Central Harlem has no designated scenic landmarks — defined by the landmarks board as a feature or group of features that must be city-owned land with historic value. The board would like legendary basketball mecca Rucker Park to be designated as the area's first scenic landmark.

"You hear a lot of complaints about the other boroughs being under-landmarked," Bankoff said. "Frankly, Manhattan above 96th street ranks as an outer borough in that sense."

The board also wants to explore the possibility of creating a Harlem State Heritage Area to help promote the culture and history of the neighborhood and attract investment.

"I think there are potentially other individual landmarks out there," Adams said. "What this board is so rich in is an incredible history of incredible people."

He named a number of unprotected sites, including a home of Vaudeville performer Bert Williams on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard that is now being used as a beauty shop, as well as three homes where "King of Ragtime" composer Scott Joplin once lived.

"This is our history," he added, "and it's highly important."

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/2012...#ixzz1tu1pkAFc

**EastMillinocket** · January 24th, 2013, 12:31 AM

source: Harlem Bespoke blog (http://harlembespoke.blogspot.com/20...eum-rises.html)

**RoldanTTLB** · January 24th, 2013, 11:37 AM

I took a few pics of this over in the Wash Heights thread. There's a better rendering on the building. This guy is a bit of a dog, though.

**EastMillinocket** · January 24th, 2013, 11:55 AM

what dog?

**RoldanTTLB** · January 24th, 2013, 12:06 PM

This building is a dog (ugly).

**EastMillinocket** · March 3rd, 2013, 03:39 PM

According to: http://harlembespoke.blogspot.com/20...struction.html
"The developers of the Kalahari condos across the street plan on building a 12-story market rate building facing the 116th Street side of the block while a 9-story affordable rate building will rise on the 117th Street side. Signs on the site state affordable apartments but from what we have been informed in the past, this will be a mixed income development."