REDEVELOPMENT OF MAJOR, LONG-VACANT SITE ON HARLEM'S 125th STREET COMMERCIAL CORRIDOR
$116 Million Total Private Investment Will Create 530 Permanent Jobs and 570 Construction Jobs
Developers will rehabilitate the former Taystee Bakery Complex and the Corn Exchange Building, both located along the 125th Street commercial corridor in Harlem. The two projects will result in more than 350,000 square feet of new state-of-the-art commercial space and are expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars of new economic activity in Harlem.
Janus Partners LLC and Monadnock Construction, Inc. will redevelop the former Taystee Bakery complex into CREATE @ Harlem Green, providing an additional 328,000 square feet of commercial and industrial space to house a number of tenants from creative industries.
The CREATE @ Harlem Green development will revitalize and physically transform an underutilized space by creating a state-of-the-art commercial building, while preserving the most of the façades of the original buildings. The building will have entrances on both 125th and 126th Streets, with a pathway from 125th Street leading to an open courtyard on 126th Street and will include ground floor uses that activate the streetscape.
Subject to public review and approval, when completed, the $100 million development will include 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space, 90,000 square feet of office space, 40,000 square feet of retail space, and 10,000 square feet of community facility space and will create about 440 permanent jobs and 510 construction jobs.
Several locally-based businesses are expected to relocate or expand to CREATE @ Harlem Green. Harlem Brewing Company, which currently brews in Saratoga Springs, will be moving its production facility to CREATE @ Harlem Green and will also grow hops on an open roof, give tours and operate a brewing museum, a tap room and gift shop.
Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center will operate 53,000 square feet of manufacturing space to be leased as 1,000-5,000-square-foot spaces for small manufacturing and artisan companies. HerFlan, currently incubating at the kitchen incubator at La Marqueta, will be expanding and growing their business by establishing a wholesale production facility and retail outlet.
Carver Federal Savings Bank, the largest African-American operated bank in the United States, plans to open a banking presence at the new CREATE @ Harlem Green and to participate in the project financing.
Janus Partners LLC and Monadnock Construction, Inc. were selected to redevelop the former Taystee Bakery Complex based on their response to a Request for Expressions of Interest NYCEDC released for the site in November 2010. NYCEDC had previously conveyed the site to Harlem Real Estate LLC, an affiliate of Citarella, in 2001, but as a result of the entity’s failure to renovate the site, the New York State Supreme Court awarded title to back to NYCEDC in 2009. 125th Street Equities LLC was selected to redevelop the Corn Exchange Building based on their response to a Request for Expressions of Interest NYCEDC (NYC Economic Development Corp.) released for the site in March 2011. NYCEDC had previously conveyed the site to Corn Exchange LLC in 2003, but, there too, as a result of Corn Exchange LLC’s failure to renovate the site, the New York State Supreme Court awarded title back to NYCEDC in 2009.
A substantial part of the 125th Street corridor and its immediate vicinity were rezoned in April 2008 as part of a comprehensive initiative by the City to strengthen the 125th Street corridor as a regional business district and bolster its historic role as an arts, entertainment and retail hub. Developed by the Department of City Planning with Harlem stakeholders over four years, the plan was designed to reinforce 125th Street as a commercial corridor and catalyze new development while protecting the scale of the corridor’s commercial and historic brownstone areas. Additionally, it established an innovative arts bonus – the first in the City – to promote the development of new non-profit visual arts and performance space.
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