How the West Went Condo

Although I'm only a few blocks away the from the condominum craze sweeping West Harlem, the fad has yet to flourish in my neck of the woods. The once-abandoned wrecks, referenced in an article in today's New York Times, generally remain neglected here on the east side of the Fifth Avenue divide. It's the West Side that is on the frontline of this 'Harlem Renaissance' buzz. All of the interviews and photographs in the story focus on points west; it is a Harlem that is rapidly gentrifying. According to the NYTimes article:

Brokers say they are seeing interest in the brownstone condominiums from families displaced by high prices on the West Side, downtown musicians and artists who can't afford to live downtown, affluent foreigners with a romantic attachment to Harlem, and bicoastal Californians who want a pied-à-terre in New York...

"Central Harlem has already made it past the hump; it is already the next SoHo," said Charlie Marcus, an actor, singer and dancer who has temporarily retired from the stage to complete work on two brownstones that he is turning into condominiums on West 117th Street. "I don't think it will revert into a dangerous slum. A lot of people have sunk a lot of money into it...

Big money is promised to be sunk into East Harlem, as well. But it is evident by the abundance of vacant lots and boarded-up buildings that the check hasn't been written yet. For now, all eyes are on the transformation west of Fifth Avenue; to a Harlem that has become increasingly disjointed from its eastern half.