There is speculation that the site located at 1800 Park Avenue, otherwise known as the forthcoming Courtyard by Marriott Harlem Hotel, is back in busines:
THERE are stirrings and rumblings that Harlem’s long-dormant 1800 Park Ave. site is springing to life.
Sources say Vornado Realty Trust – led by the dynamic Steve Roth and Michael Fascitelli – is in the middle of several tenancy agreements.
One would have Time Warner Cable relocate its headquarters from Stamford and take the office space in the base of the building.
The retail team, led in-house by Sendeep Mathrani, is also directly working with Nike Town and Bed Bath & Beyond to become the retail anchors of the proposed building.
No one from Vornado returned our calls.
As we advised last year, Vornado Realty Trust completed its agreements with previous developer Michael Caridi and his group, as well as agreements with the College of Podiatric Medicine, which owns the site and has leased it to the developers to 2051.
The 36,289-foot development site is on the west side of the Park Avenue block front from 124th to 125th Streets.
It can produce a 500,000-foot office building, and includes 126,281 feet of air rights from an adjacent property also owned by the college.
This will become the largest development in Harlem and could change the area’s dynamics.
Be aware, however, that no new building plans have yet been filed with the Department of Buildings.
Source: New York Post
NAT
January 14, 2007
According to this article, no Office Building is coming to the site.
New York Daily News – http://www.nydailynews.com
Harlem market’s shuffle
BY GABRIELLE WORMAN
DAILY NEWS WRITER
Sunday, January 14th, 2007
A Big Apple tour bus pulled up to the gates of the Malcolm Shabazz Harlem Market on 116th St. and Malcolm X Blvd. one day recently filled with eager tourist shoppers.
A short while later, they returned to the bus with little to show for the visit – just a handful of West African crafts and textiles peeking from their shopping bags.
The market, which sells an assortment of goods, most of them imported from West Africa, never lived up to the dreams of some of the merchants who were forced to move there 12 years ago from their makeshift stalls and tables on 125th St.
One discontented merchant was Yoro Sow, 44, who stood amid his tribal masks, statues and instruments made by the Ibu, Fan, Santi and Bambara tribes of Africa.
“I want to move,” he said. “Anywhere is better than here.”
Sow is going to get his wish.
This year, the market will relocate to a prime location on E. 125th St. and Park Ave. Organizers hopes that the move, set for September, will boost business and contribute to the ongoing revitalization of Harlem.
“When we opened the market on 116th St., we made a proposal to the city to relocate the vendors of 125th St., with a vision to return in the future to 125th St.,” said Mujib Mannan, the executive director of the Malcolm Shabazz Development Corporation. “This is a long-kept promise that we’re fulfilling.”
The Malcolm Shabazz Harlem Market was established in 1994 as part of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s quality-of-life campaign to remove outdoor vendors from 125th St.
As an alternative, the vendors were moved to what was once an abandoned lot on 116th St., and given a chance to transform themselves into shop owners.
The umbrella organization, Malcolm Shabazz Development Corporation, is an incubator program “that takes street vendors from tabletops to stores,” explained Mannan, an active member of the Harlem community.
The corporation’s program for vendors teaches them marketing, accounting and English as a second language.
The goal, Mannan said, is to get them independent within five years.
Since the market’s beginning 12 years go, over 200 vendors have passed through the organization, said Mannan, and dozens have graduated into full-fledged entrepreneurs, many of whom now operate their own stores.
The vendors do not pay rent in the traditional sense. Instead, they pay weekly membership fees ranging from $84 to $135, depending on the size of their booth.
The association now supports 60 vendors. By September, 20 will move to independent storefront shops on or near 116th St., and the remaining 40 merchants will relocate to the new site.
Membership fees will remain the same.
The New Malcolm Shabazz Harlem Market will occupy more than 7,500 square feet and will house 44 vendors and a fresh produce market at the front entrance on 125th St., along with an information center and new administration facilities, public toilets and a designated stop for tour buses. The $2.8 million complex will be a gateway into Spanish Harlem.
With cooperation from North General Hospital, Harlem Hospital and New York College of Podiatric Medicine, the site also will serve as a source of information to raise community health awareness.
D. Bell
January 11, 2007
Yeah it looks like that hotel deal has been ’06ed for good. Seems like they are focusing on leasing office and commercial space.
NAT
January 11, 2007
Is the building of the Hotel Dead? There is no mention of that project in the Post Article.