[krull]

I haven't heard too much about this huge project since last year, but I finally see some renderings. And they looks great and promising!

Uptown NYC:

Client: Grid Properties
Client: Gotham Development
Size: 2 Million SF
Status: Schematic Design

Located near the foot of the Triborough Bridge at 125th Street in East Harlem, this project will create a distinctive addition to the Manhattan skyline. The development combines residences, an affordable housing component and possible Latin media center with boutique and urban-sensitive `big box' retail while restoring the streetwall on several blocks of this important Harlem neighborhood.

The "joints" where the base and towers interlock become special features: entries for residences, sprawling retail frontages, urban gateways, and inviting pedestrian passageways.


Uptown NY Project Winds its Way Through Approval Process


By Barbara Jarvie
Last updated: July 25, 2005 08:22am

NEW YORK CITY-The City Environmental Quality Review process is proceeding for Uptown NY, a mixed-use approximately $140-million effort that is expected to bring 700,000 sf of retail and commercial space and 1,500 housing units for mixed incomes to a multi-block area in the 125th Street corridor. In total, the project is expected to be completed by 2016.

The developer, Urban Strategic Partners LLC, a joint venture of Grid Properties and the Gotham Organization, plans smaller outlet, specialty and local retailers and restaurants at street level with regional and national retailers and entertainment uses above. They stress that it will not be a mall with common indoor space shared by all tenants. Parking will be available for more than 1,000 cars, but the site is designed to be pedestrian oriented.

The residential aspect will be a mix of low-income, affordable and market-rate units. The specific mix and the amount of for-sale versus rental housing has not yet been determined. The roof of the three-level retail platform will provide outdoor open space for the residences. Other options the developers are exploring include a media center or cultural component.

The project will be housed on three contiguous sites. The first is located on the southeast corner of 125th Street and Third Avenue, the second is on the entire block bounded by 125th and 126th streets and Second and Third avenues, and the third is on the block bounded by 126th and 127th streets and Second and Third avenues.

The site is within the Harlem/East Harlem Urban Renewal Area. Urban Strategic Partners’ development, to be known as Uptown NY, the New York City Economic Development Corp. anticipates the project will create approximately 1,000 permanent jobs and 600 construction jobs. The partnership previously developed the $66-million Harlem USA retail and entertainment complex.


Copyright © 2006 Real Estate Media.

 

[3tmk]

yup, watch 125th street become the next new great place, with the aquapark built across the river, etc. And they already have Clinton
And it's a launching pad for developers to finally go to the south bronx

 

[TroyBoy]

What happened to the Harlem Hotel are they still building it?

 

[krull]

^ Nothing yet. They haven't started.

 

[Bertez]

Looks great

 

[TampaMike]

It might just be me, but I only get red boxes

 

[Phobos]

^^same here dude

 

[krull]

I think my host photo website was down... But I think maybe you guys can see it now.

 

[TroyBoy]

yep works now.

In the 3d picture the tower looks fairly tall but in the painting it looks smallish.
Which is it?

 

[Mosaic]

This is great for NYC.

 

[Middle-Island]

Located near the foot of the Triborough Bridge at 125th Street in East Harlem, this project will create a distinctive addition to the Manhattan skyline.

I had never been anywhere near that location until using the Triborough today. I was surprised how low-rise this area is.

 

[TalB]

Part of me feels that East Harlem shouldn't be gentrified b/c there aren't a lot of places left in Manhattan for the middle and working classes hence they have to live in the outer borroughs and/or outside the city.

 

[krull]

^ Not to worry... there is going to be affordable housing in this development. Besides there is just empty lands in this area. Alot of the uses is to benefit the community there aswell. It is like a big development aim for the poor and middle class there. With lots of jobs and retail aim to the community. I think.

 

[[email protected]]

I always thought there is a 500 or 600ft height limit north of Central Park?

 

[3tmk]

^that's the first time I hear about this.
There might be one due to the air corridor leading to LG airport

 

[krull]

NIMBYs won the battle! :bash: hno:


'Uptown' plan down and out
Foes sink huge E. Harlem project


BY BOB KAPPSTATTER
DAILY NEWS BRONX BUREAU CHIEF
May 3, 2006

In a rare nod to community opposition, the Bloomberg administration has scrapped plans for a massive commercial and residential development project in rapidly gentrifying East Harlem.

Bowing to pressure from Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, City Councilwoman Melissa Mark Viverito (D-East Harlem) and Community Board 11, the mayor's office quietly informed them last week that the city's Economic Development Corp. will not move forward with the "Uptown New York" project.

Set to rise on mostly city-owned land running from 125th to 127th Sts. and Second to Third Aves., it would have included a 700,000-square-foot commercial development, 1,500 housing units, 1,000 parking spaces and expansion of an MTA bus storage facility in a heavily trafficked neighborhood with the highest nationwide rate of childhood asthma.

Instead, the EDC will issue a new request for proposals that "more closely meets neighborhood needs and concerns," Stringer said in a joint press release with project opponents.

The community supports significant new development on the site, they said, but wants to see more affordable housing, commercial space for local businesses, and ways to avoid traffic congestion and air pollution.

With a booming real estate market, the upper East Side has been pushing farther into East Harlem, with condos rising cheek-by-jowl with tenements and housing projects.

The EDC's first request for proposals for the project in 1999 called only for commercial development of the site. That year, it designated Urban Strategic Partners - a joint venture of Grid Properties and the Gotham Organization - to come up with a plan.

Six years later, the project was close to a $1 billion development, overwhelming the community with four 25- to 30-story residential towers sitting on top of a large commercial retail complex.

It also included a 1,000space parking garage, with the MTA bus depot on 126th St. and Second Ave. moved underground, below the complex.

Working with the EDC, Stringer and Mark Viverito, Board 11 formed a task force in October 2005 that came up with its priorities for the site.

"We are grateful to the task force, borough president, Community Board 11 and Council member Mark Viverito for their efforts in helping us to reach consensus on this project," said EDC spokeswoman Janel Patterson.


All contents © 2006 Daily News, L.P.

 

[krull]

Here is more depressing news on the cancel project...


Facing Neighbors' Concerns, City Kills Huge East Harlem Project


By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
Published: May 4, 2006

The Bloomberg administration has canceled plans for a $1 billion development project in East Harlem that featured a new shopping district, condominium towers and a bus depot, acting because of community opposition that included concerns that the project would aggravate the area's high asthma rate.

The plan, known as Uptown New York, is a rare case in which the Bloomberg administration has rescinded one of its large development projects. The decision was announced this week by the Manhattan borough president, Scott M. Stringer, and City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, who were among the project's chief opponents.

Critics had complained that the city's Economic Development Corporation had drawn up plans for the two-million-square-foot project without any community participation. "Obviously, there has to be development in East Harlem, but it has to be done with a more comprehensive approach," Mr. Stringer said. "People want to be engaged, they want to know what's going on."

Janel Patterson, a spokeswoman for the Economic Development Corporation, thanked the community and its elected officials in a statement for "helping us to reach a consensus on this project." The city will seek new bids on the site later this summer, she said.

The project had been planned for an area of mostly vacant city-owned lots bounded by 125th and 127th Streets and Second and Third Avenues, near the foot of the Triborough Bridge.

Although it had first been proposed in 1999 as a modest retail center on one block of land, the final project included 700,000 square feet of commercial development; 1,500 housing units, including four condominium towers of more than 25 stories; 1,000 new parking spaces; and an underground Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus depot.

The developer, Urban Strategic Partners, which built the Harlem USA shopping mall, had also proposed a Latin theater and restaurants at the site to fit in with the character of the predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood. Urban Strategic Partners did not respond to telephone calls and e-mail messages seeking comment.

Uptown New York was one of several large commercial developments planned for East Harlem in recent years, including the 475,000-square-foot East River Plaza, which is being built several blocks to the south on the former Washburn Wire Factory site. That project will have a Home Depot and a Costco.

Although it is still one of the poorest neighborhoods in Manhattan, East Harlem has seen a recent spate of market-rate condo and co-op construction, and there were concerns that Uptown New York would drive up the real estate market.

The project's developer had proposed that 80 percent of the residential units would be sold or rented at market rates, while 20 percent would have been more affordable housing, said Robert J. Rodriguez, the vice chairman of the local community board. He also noted the high child asthma rate in the community.


Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

 

[TalB]

The reason they oppossed the project is b/c they felt that it would lead to gentrification and that they would end up being priced out by the increasing property taxes.