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Harlem under construction: mapping a new landscape

Harlem is under reconstruction as several new condos on Frederick Douglass prepare to open their doors in the spring.

By Sam Levin

Published Monday 30 November 2009 02:21am EST.

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This piece produced by Nilkanth Patel, Sam Levin

For Toya Jackson and Tamisha Lopez, the stretch of 114th Street between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell is a block where everyone knows everyone.

Sitting on a brownstone stoop on a recent Tuesday afternoon, Jackson said that her corner sticks together as the neighborhood changes. “Harlem is losing its essence,” Lopez added, pointing to the construction site of a new residential building on the block.

Local developers, cultural organizations, politicians, and longtime residents have different views on the evolving face of Upper Manhattan, yet all agree that Frederick Douglass Boulevard in the center of West Harlem is undergoing a significant reconstruction.

While some residents and community leaders decry gentrification, developers argue that they are bringing a welcome boost to the micro-economy centered around 125th Street by developing vacant lots or rehabbing structures that are eyesores.

Several large residential buildings are slated to open in the spring of 2010, amid reconstructed mixed-income brownstones or brand-new, 20-story luxury condominiums. And as changes in the real estate market suggest a possible end to the recession, more developers across the avenue are digging up the ground in Harlem and planting seeds for an entirely new landscape.

Just in time

Hans Futterman, president of the RGS Holdings development firm, lives around the corner from a new luxury condo site that spans the entire east side of Frederick Douglass between 122nd and 123rd streets.

Futterman said “2280 FDB”—slated to open in April—got started before the recession temporarily halted many neighborhood projects. “We did have our financing in place prior to the downturn having its full impact,” he said, adding that many point to September 2008 as the beginning of the end. Futterman secured loans in June 2008, and 2280 FDB broke ground that spring.
But the timing is certainly not perfect, he said.

Futterman typically expects between 55 and 60 percent sales by this point, but has only sold 35 percent of the units—though this “is still substantially better than most new developments in our area.”

Kyle Rawlins, a principal for Piper-Cadmium Real Property Management and the developer of 220 St. Nicholas Ave. on the corner of 121st Street, said he was grateful he secured financing before the 2007 credit crisis. Rawlins broke ground on his 10-story condo development in the middle of 2008, and said the property is on track to open in the spring.

Rawlins added that he is not concerned about the gloomy market. “We’ve gone back to more sound fundamentals. Buyers are making a big decision,” he said, predicting that speculative investing in condos will become much less common. Now, when people purchase property in a Harlem condo, it is for their home, he said.

“It was a good game while it lasted,” he said of speculation, adding that he has not yet launched any extensive marketing, since he is confident that the units will sell.

Meredith Marshall, Business ’92 and a developer from BRP Development Corp., which is overseeing “Harlem’s Savannah”—a new mixed-income development on 114th and Frederick Douglass—said BRP had its first open house for the development last week. Like 220 St. Nicholas and 2280 FDB, residents will probably move in around springtime.

The key to success for the Savannah, Marshall said, is BRP management’s role as both the developer and financier, avoiding any sort of outside contractor. “We are on both sides of the equation,” he said, adding, “We are not paying a third party. Otherwise, there could be a contractor working for four other projects, or shaky developers who don’t have financing and equity in place.”

For Marshall, concerns lie in the approaching task of actually filling up the newly constructed site. Along with his confident neighboring developers, he agreed, “We are only affected by the slowdown in purchasing.”

Stuck in the mud

Other projects did not survive the storm of the recession.

On the corner of 127th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, large billboards fill an empty lot, advertising “The Dafina,” a 48-unit luxury condo building. Its Web site says, “This new Harlem construction features amenities that will exceed your expectations.”

But according to spokespeople from the Griffin Real Estate Group, which represents the Dafina, it is now off of the market. David Gross, an architect from GF55—the company that designed the Dafina—confirmed that the entire project was on hold.

“It is waiting for the next round of economic stimulus funds,” Gross said. “It’s stuck in the mud—but it’s a great project.”

Half a mile north, on Frederick Douglass between 131st and 132nd streets, a five-story brick building, almost 109 years old, has sat vacant since the 1970s, except for a small T-shirt shop that ran out of the ground floor and is now closed.

But the entire structure went on the market last Tuesday, according to Kory Marrero, the broker from Halstead Property who represents the project.

Marrero said the property could go to a small developer, who could then sell the residential units and find a retail tenant for the first and second floors. She said it is an attractive property because there are few zoning restrictions and developers can build additional floors.

Marvin Saunders, who has lived in Harlem for 60 years and now goes to church near the vacant site, said he would like to buy the retail space and open a clothing outlet called “Sneaky Marvin.” He said any sort of development above the retail floors should support the community, whether as a place for foster children or a nonprofit youth program. With vacancies like these, “Harlem doesn’t have the spirit it used to,” he said.

But Marrero predicted that this will take time. “I don’t think it is going to be something they want to turn around immediately,” she said of potential developers, adding, “Any investor will probably purchase it and hold on to it before developing.”

Marrero added, “This is the history of New York downturns.” Rawlins agreed, saying that after many new developments open their doors this spring, he expects a lull in construction due to the recession: “You won’t be seeing any new stuff for a while.”

A mixed bag

With many projects on the rise, no two residential buildings are alike. Some developers say that this mix of housing is key to the success of their new buildings, which will only add to the neighborhood’s diverse market.

On 114th Street, the Savannah will be 80 percent market-rate and 20 percent affordable housing, according to Marshall, the developer from BRP. The affordable housing component was negotiated when BRP bought the two vacant lots from the city—which Marshall said housed an illegal tenant and disposable car parts. Each lot went for one dollar, in a deal to ensure that 20 percent of the units would be sold at affordable rates based on the area’s median income.

This affordable housing is available by lottery through the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. According to Marshall, the Savannah had 2,000 applicants, 400 of whom proved eligible for only eight units. “We’ll see how it goes,” he said, adding, “We are selling value, not luxury.”

Luxury is available around the corner, where the Community Preservation Corporation—a lender and low- to- moderate income developer—is currently rehabilitating a small brownstone in disrepair at 306 West 115th Street.

Bruce Dale, senior vice president for CPC, said his organization funds renovations of Harlem brownstones, historically for low-income housing units. But the new building will feature four luxury condos to be completed in the spring. Dale predicted that there would be a market for these homes, and the developer would likely be “willing to convert to rental if that provides a quick and easier way out.”

Ten blocks north at 122nd Street, Futterman said that 2280 FDB would be selling entirely market-rate condos. Rawlins, the 121st Street developer, said that his 10 market-rate units would garner interest without drastically impacting local housing prices. “I’ve heard comments that perhaps there is too much development or too much inventory,” he said. “I’m not sure if it is going to move your needle, so to speak, on the entire market.”

According to Dale, “The Harlem community argued that you can’t rebuild a neighborhood with just poor people. You have to have an economic mix. You need disposable income for stores to survive.”

But some nearby residents see this “mix” as false advertising for displacement. Hassan Dickerson, who lives on 114th Street, said of the new developments, “I don’t like it. Look at it—that pushes people out.”

“What we really need to do is strike that balance,” said Charmaine DaCosta, a manager at New Song Community Corporation, a nonprofit on 118th Street that focuses on youth services and affordable housing developments.

DaCosta acknowledged that market-rate developments are sometimes necessary. “This is a community for all of us, not just some of us,” she said, adding, “I don’t have anything against rich people.”

Progress and transition

William Franc Perry, chair of Central Harlem’s Community Board 10, said new developments are generally a welcome sign of progress, but stalled projects become neighborhood scars.
“It is sad to see a lot of these developments empty,” he said, pointing out a delayed site outside his community board office window.

New condos are an important part of residential growth, according to Perry, who added of market-rate housing, “There are people in our community that can afford these. They deserve a place to live.”

For some local organizations, change is welcome—but there is a limit.

“It’s very good news. We like to see this change,” said Kaaw Sow, general manager for the Senegalese Association in America located on 116th Street and St. Nicholas. He added of the Senegalese community, “We were the first people to believe that Harlem is something, and it became Little Senegal. With these people coming in to develop, we see that we were right.”
But anxiety taints this appreciation, Sow said, considering the small businesses that have closed because of incoming developments that price them out. “People cannot afford it. This is the new way to kick people out of Harlem,” he said.

But many developers argue that since they enter vacant lots, this is not the case. “We haven’t displaced one resident,” Marshall said of the Savannah. “It is just additive.”
Rawlins said his 121st Street development “will add to the streetscape” on what had been a garbage lot.

Dame Babou, president of the Harlem-based African Communications Network, has seen the neighborhood evolve and said this change is for the better. For Babou, “I think the first thing it means is security.”

When he moved to Harlem two decades ago, “We never came home alone,” he said, because of the unsafe neighborhood. “Even now, at 8 p.m, I send my son to the store.”

But he refuses to accept the vacant lot argument. Development in Harlem can hurt current residents regardless of past conditions, Babou said. “Even if they are not touching your building, the value of your building changes,” he explained, and even local rent-controlled apartments are threatened.

A new Harlem?

By June of 2010, if these projects are completed on time, Frederick Douglass Boulevard will be home to at least five new developments within a 20-block radius.

The streetscape is bound to change. “Context drives us a great deal,” said David Gross, the GF55 architect. Gross said he aims to design structures that fit into the surrounding landscape while also contributing a new aesthetic.

On the streets of West Harlem, with the sounds of drills echoing throughout the day, local residents and workers anticipate a serious transition. Leika Diaz, an employee at Quality Cleaners, wedged in between two construction sites on 121st, said, “It means more money and more business—and no parking.”

Tia Gueye, who lives on 123rd and Manhattan Avenue, doesn’t mind the change. “Harlem will always be black,” she said. “Nothing stays the same, and there is obviously something in Harlem that attracts developers. I’m trying to look at this in a positive way. Harlem does have something more to give.”

news@columbiaspectator.com

Tags: News, Sam Levin, Nilkanth Patel, Sam Levin, CB10, Condominium Buildings, Development, Housing, senegalese association of america

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