Harlem in 2016?

Sometimes barbeque and bagel just isn't enough. This Memorial Day weekend, the forces of economic development joined the Harlem block party thanks to a New York Magazine cover story about real estate in 2016. The article examines what Harlem will look like ten years from now, and likens 125th Street to Times Square:

There’s never been a musical named after it, but 125th Street could give 42nd Street a run for its money in the name-recognition department. The buses arrive, drop tourists at the Apollo Theater, maybe swing by Sylvia’s or Amy Ruth’s for lunch. On Sundays, the local churches fill with non-locals absorbing the Gospel. But often that is it. There’s nothing else distinctly “Harlem” to see, since the out-of-towners have Old Navy and H&M at home.

“There’s something as precious here as the atmosphere of Paris,” says Harlem historian and booster Michael Henry Adams. “They will sweep it all away and turn it into Paramus, New Jersey.”

Ah, the comparisons just keep getting sweeter... first Times Square, now New Jersey?! Is this really the direction Harlem is headed? Comments from a posting last week touched on this subject. Other major developments noted in the article include: Harlem Piers, Columbia Manhattanville, Apollo Theater, Loews-Victoria Theater, Harlem Park, Kalahari Apartments, Uptown New York, Latino Entertainment Corridor and East River Plaza.

Hot Today, Gone Tomorrow

What better way to spend this Memorial Day weekend than trolling real estate here in Harlem? With temperatures forecast in the 80s and lots of sunshine expected, indulge your inner bagel and take a peek at a few of the apartments available on the market today:

Hot Bagel for Sale: A six-bedroom, six-bath "Soho style in Harlem" two family townhouse with two dining rooms, two laundry rooms, terrace and wet bar. Located on West 123rd Street between Seventh and Eigth Avenues. Asking: $2.49 million

Toasty Bagel for Sale: A two-bedroom, 1.5-bath apartment with Central Park views, concierge and washer-dryer. Located on Adam Clayton Boulevard between 110th and 111th Street. Asking: $895K

Warm Bagel for Sale: A two-bedroom, one-bath apartment near the Sugar Hill area of Harlem. City views and lots of light. Located on West 158th Street. Asking: $385K

Soda Bop

Back in Indiana, there wasn't a whole lot of Hip Hop music (it was John Cougar Mellencamp 24/7). We didn't have much soda pop either (all carbonated sugar drinks were referred to as "coke"). So I figure tomorrow's big announcement about Harlem's new HipHopSodaShop is a prime opportunity for me to get educated on the finer things in life.

Artist Juelz Santana and Chicago Bulls' guard Ben Gordon will be at the ESPN Zone Thursday to discuss plans for their new flagship store on 125th Street. Santana recently spoke on camera about the changes going on in the neighborhood.

“I'm just seeing what's going on in Harlem and it's like they’re just moving us out and bringing everyone else in,” Santana said on BET’s 106 & Park. “The way Harlem is going to be in a couple of years, a lot of things are going to be worth a lot of money.”

Approximately 45 million consumers are now spending $12.6 billion-dollars a year on Hip Hop media and merchandise worldwide. It's estimated that Harlem’s new store will bring about 100 new jobs to the area.

High Cost of Bagel

As news that a recent home sale for a townhouse above 110th Street may have set a new record, leave it to the ole' bagel to set a sales record of its own.

Only in this fair city, can one find a $22-dollar bagel. Yes, it's $22-dollars. According to amNew York, the city's most expensive bagel can be found at the Ritz-Carlton's Atelier restaurant. That includes smoked salmon and cream cheese.

As for the townhouse sale, a deed filed with the city states that a five-story house on Convent Avenue sold in mid-March for $3.89 million. That would be almost $1.3 million more than the previous record for a townhouse above 110th Street. No word on if the sub-zero comes fully stocked...

A Cell With A View

Forget warehouses and churches. Today it's all about the correctional facility as real estate developers look to transform these buildings into luxury condominiums.

An article in the New Yorker points to Harlem's old Parkside Correctional Facility as a how-to-guide for anyone interested in breaking into the correctional-conversion sector. (The building will be known as 10 Mount Morris Park West.) Writer Kate Julian offers the following tips:

One: Pick the right neighborhood. Prisons aren’t usually in affluent residential districts, so if the housing is to be high end (most of the Mount Morris con-dominiums will list for more than a million dollars) it will need to be in a neighborhood (like the Mount Morris Park Historic District) that is already being gentrified.

Two: Allow some time to pass. A healthy interval between the departure of the last inmates and the condominium offering should help avert buyer anxiety. (Parkside has been closed for seven years.)

Three: Remove any fixtures that say “penal institution.” Some reminders of Parkside’s past were disposed of early on. (“We were not able to keep the cage on the roof,” Beyhan Karahan, the architect, said. “It was already so damaged, and we didn’t know what to do with it in an upscale residency, frankly.”) But, six months into construction, the prison’s front door was covered with a metal grate and still said “Parkside Correctional Facility” in peeling blue letters.

Four: Structural obstacles may prove substantial. With ceilings as low as eight feet three inches high, the dimensions of 10 Mount Morris are geared more to institutional efficiency than to luxury living. In an effort to preëmpt such criticism, the developers like to emphasize the unit’s “loftlike” open floor plans.

Five: Open houses can be risky, as the comments of neighbors and passersby may startle prospective buyers. Michael Johnson, who co-owns the S.R.O. across the street from 10 Mount Morris, said to a recent visitor, “Some of my neighbors didn’t like the jail, but the men in my building loved it, because the women prisoners would flash them sometimes through the windows. One lady tried to escape by jumping out.”

A final note: Keep an eye out for prisons with potential, even if they haven’t been vacated. The Bayview Correctional Facility, on West Twentieth Street, for instance, has a rooftop garden, and, on a clear day, residents can see the Statue of Liberty. The Lincoln Correctional Facility, on 110th Street, has an exercise area on the roof with a panoramic view of Central Park. Brian Fischer, who worked at Parkside for many years, recalls his former workplace fondly. “The women didn’t want to leave,” he said recently. “It had a great view, and the place was air-conditioned.” Fischer is now the superintendent of Sing Sing. “Talk about property values—we’re on the river. Unbelievable.”

Harlem Headlines

Jesus Good For The Heart: Better start praying. A new report indicates that having faith can significantly reduce stress. According to the New York Daily News, the study found that overweight African-Americans who regularly participated in religious activities had lower blood pressure than their less-faithful counterparts. In an interview with the paper, the Rev. Shepherd Lee of the Baptist Temple Church in Harlem agreed with the results of the four-year study:

"Say I have a $2,000 light bill due Friday, I don't have to worry because I know Jesus Christ will help me find a way to pay it. We know that Christ will come, we don't have to stress about it."

Amen.

Behind Schedule: A redevelopment project for what was Harlem's largest and most elegant theater is a year behind schedule. The New York Times reports that two finalists have been chosen for redevelopment proposals that would preserve the Victoria Theatre while turning the property into a hotel, condominium and entertainment complex. The theatre, located just a couple of doors down from the Apollo, was once a vaudville house and movie palace. It has been closed since 1997.

Wi-Fi Wag

While you're waiting for Central Park's free wireless network to get up and running, why not come to Harlem for a little unprotected Web surfing? A recent report found the neighborhood is the second least password protected internet spot in the entire metropolitan area.

As part of the study, a group of internet hackers were unleashed on the city armed with maps, laptops, wi-fi cards, antennas and NetStumbler. The team assembled a breakdown by neighborhood of the percentage of wireless networks that are password protected.

Greenwich Village topped the list for security, with more encryption software and other protection in place than anywhere else in the city, while Elmhurst, Queens came in last - 75% of the networks scanned were password free. Harlem came in second to last, with 66 percent of the networks password free.

Two for Tuesday

Schools Gone Condo? First Harlem's churches, now its schools? The New York Post reports that a former public school in East Harlem is part of a development site that could support an apartment project of approximately 65,000 square feet. Shimon Shkury of Massey Knakal is offering 2269-75 First Ave. at 117th Street for $14.5 million.

According to the Post, the site includes the five-story, Beaux Arts-façade and an adjacent empty lot. The current owner, an unidentified investor, has sketched out several designs for the new project, including the one shown above that was done by BKSK Architects.

Rangel Supports Angry Renters: The New York Daily News reports that Representative Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) joined forces last night with a parade of angry renters complaining of being pushed around by the Pinnacle Group LLC, a real estate company owning several buildings in the neighborhood.

"What you're doing here is stopping a broader conspiracy to take our community away from us," Rangel said to a group of about 300 who gathered last night to collect testimony and documentation relating to investigations into alleged Pinnacle wrongdoing.

Tenants say Pinnacle is overcharging them, dragging them into court for no reason, failing to make repairs, violating their succession rights and warehousing empty apartments to get higher rents.

"This isn't just Pinnacle. Developers and speculators have been removing tenants illegally from apartments which they return to the market at ridiculous rents," Rangel said.

Famous Bagel

More Hotties in Harlem: With all the news about hotties coming to Harlem, why shouldn't Hollywood heartthrobs Edward Norton and Colin Farrell jump on the hottie bandwagon? No, they're not moving here, but they are starring in a movie that's being filmed today on my neighborhood block.

Large semis woke me up this morning (the ones pictured above) and when I looked out the window I saw that East 127th Street west of Madison Avenue was lined with movie trailors and production crews. According to IMDb, the film, "Pride & Glory," is about a family of New York City police officers torn apart by a corruption scandal. Filming will take place here throughout the day.

Harlem School on Sixty Minutes: Publicity of the "new Harlem renaissance" has made its way onto national television and CBS Correspondent Ed Bradley profiled one man leading the charge.

Pointing out that nearly all the children here live in poverty — and two-thirds of them score below grade level on standardized tests — Bradley did a segment on Goefreey Canada, a man who has made it his mission to save the neighborhood children through The Harlem Children's Zone. You can read about it and watch the Sixty Minutes clip here.

Hotties in Harlem

Hallelujah! According to the folks at Curbed, "hot dudes are moving to Harlem!" While I see hotties-a-plenty running amok in these here parts, what's wrong with having a few more? The latest news is that a prominent downtown real estate attorney — and one of the city's "most eligible bachelors" — has just purchased a 3000 square foot, $2.4 million dollar triplex penthouse with a 1000 square foot private terrace at The Lenox Condominium. Here are a few of the other apartments on the market today that are luring the hotties into the neighborhood:

Seriously Hot Bagel For Sale: A 5,000 square foot mixed use townhouse. Words can't do this space justice, so check out the pictures. On West 133rd Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Asking $2.9 million.

Darn Warm Bagel For Sale: A corner townhouse with 2-car garage, a bathhroom "the size of most living rooms" and views of Morningside Park.Open house this Sunday, May 14th. On West 122nd Street and Manhattan Avenue. Asking $2.67 million.

Toasty Bagel For Sale: For the hottie on a budget! A 2-bedroom one-bath apartment with airy foyer, bamboo flooring and state-of-the-art kitchen in a full service building. Located on Lennox Avenue between 116th and 117th Streets. Asking $325K.

Tourist Trap

Nothing says tourist more than the fold-out map — and nothing is worse than looking like a tourist. So, If you're new to Harlem or have a hankering to check out Uptown, there's a new way to navigate the neighborhood while keeping your self-respect.

City Walks: New York is a palm-sized deck of cards offering 50 mini-tours to key spots throughout the city. Each card picks a place — Harlem, Central Park, Ground Zero — and shows a tiny map of it on one side, while the flip side explains how to get there and what to look for once you've arrived. Also included are less touristy spots such as Queens, the Bronx and DUMBO.

It does not, however, instruct you on how to dress when you come to Harlem (avoid anything resembling picture above), but for just $15-dollars you'll have money leftover for a new shirt.

House Calls in Harlem

It's not often that doctors make house calls these days. But immunologist Pernessa Seele did just that in the late 1980s. She knocked on church doors throughout the neighborhood and organized Harlem’s first Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS in 1989.

Earlier this week she was honored at an awards ceremony in the city as one of Time Magazine's list of “The [100] People Who Shape Our World.” Dr. Seele now runs The Balm in Gilead, the largest non-profit AIDS awareness effort focused on educating African Americans about the disease. And, according to Gothamist, because 48% of Americans with AIDS are black, her work is invaluable.

Rental Ruckus

It was landlords vs. rent-stabilized tenants last night as the second of five Rent Guidelines Board meetings took place. The RGB sets the allowable rent increases for the city's one million plus rent-stabilized apartments — increases that are supposed to be based on the supply of available apartments, the cost of building ownership and cost of living throughout the city.

According to Gothamist, the tenant advocates repeatedly claimed the landlords were making an unfair profit and not putting in necessary repairs on the apartments. The landlord advocates said that their costs were skyrocketing and that without a large increase, they'd have to sell their buildings.

"I see two New Yorks," Adriene Holder, a tenant board member, said in a New York Times article. "I see one increasingly affluent. And I see another one increasingly, increasingly becoming more poor." She added, "Landlords are hardly impoverished, landlords are hardly hurting, landlords are hardly poor."

The board took a preliminary vote and agreed on 3 to 6.5 percent increases for 1-year renewals; and 5 to 8.5% increases for 2-year leases. If the board settles on the middle of the ranges (4.75/6.75%), that would be a lot higher than last year's 2.75 and 5.5% increases. The next meeting is on June 1st, with a final vote on June 27th.

Packing Up

Out with the old, in with the new. That's the controversial tactic some say is being used by one of New York's largest owners of rent-stabilized apartments.

The NY Daily News reports that the Pinnacle Group LLC continues to carry out an aggressive campaign to chase out its low-income tenants — many of them here in Harlem. In fact, Pinnacle has filed more than 5,000 Housing Court eviction actions in the past two years. Once an apartment becomes vacant, Pinnacle typically renovates the unit, then sharply increases the rent — often to double or triple the previous rate.

"They have become the leading force for gentrification in northern Manhattan," says Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat (D-Washington Heights). "My office is being overwhelmed by complaints from families being crushed by this company."

The growing threat of displacement has sparked a huge backlash from hundreds of Pinnacle residents and local political leaders in a half-dozen neighborhoods.

State Assemblyman Keith Wright (D-Harlem) joined with a newly formed anti-Pinnacle group, Buyers and Renters United to Save Harlem (BRUSH), to picket the company's midtown headquarters last month. BRUSH has sponsored several neighborhood meetings in recent weeks that have drawn hundreds of irate Pinnacle tenants.

Harlem High Schooler

The story of an 18-year-old East Harlem student continues to tug at heartstrings across the country.

When Amadou Ly's mother returned to Senegal and left him behind to get a U.S. education, the illegal immigrant had few people he could depend on for help.

But since his success in a robotics championship attracted national attention to his fight against deportation, Ly has received a flood of support. Strangers have sent money and offered assistance, and members of Congress have sent letters to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on the high school senior's behalf.

When Ly's East Harlem Tech robotics team scored an upset victory over the city's elite schools to enter the international FIRST Robotics Championship in Atlanta, the student had to tell his teammates about his immigration problems because he had no valid ID to board a flight to Atlanta.

Instead, Ly took an 18-hour train ride to the competition. His team didn't win, but his story earned him a spot on national TV and in his native Senegal.

"Cameras, newspapers, people that I don't know, people standing up and letting me know that there's help...I feel good about that, and I'm thankful," " the high schooler said.

Ly says he dreams of studying math and computer science at the College of Technology in Brooklyn, where he has been accepted. After hearing about his story, strangers have offered to help pay for his college tuition and legal expenses, and a fund has been established on his behalf. Some even offered to adopt him if that would help him remain in the U.S.

Harlem Headlines

Mission: Accomplished: He came, we saw, he grinned. "Hey, man" and "take care" was pretty much all Tom Cruise had to say to those who got near him as he traversed through Manhattan and into Harlem publicizing his new movie “Mission: Impossible lll.” A whole lot of teenage girls were on hand to greet the star, who arrived in Harlem yesterday after catching rides on a fire truck, helicopter, motorcycle, speed boat and sports car.

“He can jump on my couch anytime,” said one fan.

Cruise dropped in to tape a show at BET, then went across 125th St. to the Magic Johnson Theatre, where he met rapper Kanye West. When he was through, he took a $10,000-dollar rented subway car down to midtown for his final premiere at the Ziegfeld Theatre.

Here are some more shots of Tom in Harlem, courtesy of uptown blogger extraordinaire Joe Schumacher.

Uptown New York Project Scrapped: It’s not every day the Bloomberg administration recscinds on one of its large development projects. But today, a$1 billion East Harlem plan including a new shopping district, condominium towers and bus depot has been killed. Opponents said the plan would aggravate the area's high asthma rate.

Mission: Harlem

The day has finally arrived and I, for one, am counting down the minutes. We are just hours away from Tom Cruise criss-crossing his way through Manhattan and bounding into Harlem this evening for his red-carpet premiere of "Mission: Impossible lll."

Coming a long way since his days when he was short on cash and used to haul garbage in the neighborhood, Cruise is scheduled to return to his old stomping ground by way of boat and Lamborghini.

If you're in the area of the Magic JohnsonTheatre on 125th Street and snap a photo of the Top Gun, be sure to send it this way. I'll send you a Lenders bagel for your effort.

Controversial Clinic

Some East Harlem residents and business owners are trying to keep an AIDS facility from opening here this week. They’re concerned that the new clinic, located on East 116th Street and run by Harlem United Community AIDS Center, will attract drug users to the neighborhood.

In an interview with Metro New York, Henry Calderon, president of the East Harlem Chamber of Commerce said:

“No more is East Harlem going to be the doormat and dumping ground for these places. These aren’t just some unfortunate people with AIDS. The clinic is looking to bring a population of unemployed, of methadone users, of uninsured. These are delinquents.”

Soraya Elcock, Harlem United’s deputy director for policy and government relations, defended the facility and said it is part of a new model for treating people with AIDS.

“The most recent health department data shows that more people died from AIDS in East Harlem than any other neighborhood in the city,” she said.

In fact, according to the city, 2.5 percent of the population here — 2,755individuals — are living with HIV/AIDS, second only to the neighborhood of Chelsea.

Mixed Bagel

One of the more interesting real estate trends here in Harlem is the proliferation of “mixed-use” developments. Trying to make good on its ambitious plan to create more affordable housing in the area, the city is removing the stigma often associated with low-income developments by attracting a larger percentage of individuals with higher incomes into these new uptown residences.

A case in point: The Kalahari. The 250 condominium units – complete with doorman, internet access and gym – will range in price to serve a mix of incomes. According to the New York City Housing Development Corporation, the annual median income for a family of four is currently $62,800-dollars. The Kalahari will designate 20 percent of the units to low-income buyers, 30 percent to moderate-income buyers and the remaining 50 percent of units will be sold at market rate. Construction on the Kalahari is scheduled to be complete by the end of the year.

In years past, the percentage of affordable housing in some individual developments had a larger volume of low to moderate-income units – some as high as 80 percent. While the city continues to help fund these types of developments, large-scale buildings like the Kalahari are part of a trend to incorporate a broader range of resident.

As prices in the area continue to rise, are these mixed-use developments Harlem's best shot at a diverse class structure or is the changing face of the neighborhood now reflected in the way its affordable housing is being split?