USA Africa Dialogue Series - Harlem Renaissance

Harlem's New Renaissance
By Irina Vinnitskaya | September 18, 2011 12:23 PM EDT
International Business Times

Harlem's long held reputation is starting to break thanks to key urban
planning policies and security provisions that have made the
neighborhood safer and more developer-friendly. For much of the 20th
century, Harlem deterred private developers because of its high crime
rate, abundance of subsidized housing, and its distance from Midtown.
New York City owned half of the real estate in the neighborhood. This
is starting to change. Over the past decade, when property values in
other parts of Manhattan spiked, Harlem became a possibility for new
development. One of the first steps was to make the neighborhood safe
by cracking down on crime and rezoning key arteries to make them more
attractive to investors, such as 125th street. These initiatives have
worked, as can be seen by the steady rise in luxury condo buildings,
bougie shops and new residents, people of all ethnicities and income
levels are looking at Harlem for bargains in the market.

Of course this transition is not always smooth. Harlem has a deep
history with the African American community where Duke Ellington,
Langston Hughes, and Marcus Garvey embraced their talents despite the
struggles of the time. And these aspects of Harlem's history are
still very present: housing projects, stately brownstones, soul-food
restaurants, jazz lounges, hair-braiding shops, and churches large and
small. With gentrification in full swing, Harlem residents don't just
fear losing their homes; they fear losing their history, their
culture.

The architecture of this neighborhood tells the story of its changing
face. "It's starting to look like downtown," says Jaylene Clark, a
young Harlem native who critiques the neighborhood's gentrification in
her new play, Renaissance in the Belly of a Killer Whale. A mile-long
stretch of Frederick Douglass Boulevard reveals how quickly
redevelopment can take hold. South Harlem has been rebranded as SoHa,
and its urban development has followed in the transformation with
dozens of condos, fancy hotels, and fashionable stores and eateries.
In some cases the new developments are sensitive to the existing
architecture, which was one of the goals of rezoning the streets.
However, many still stand in contrast both in materials and scale.

Surprisingly, Michael Henry Adams, a staunch local preservationist and
author of Harlem: Lost and Found, is pleased with the new additions on
Frederick Douglass Boulevard. For the most part, they "are quiet
buildings that recede into the background and become good neighbors,"
he says. "As a whole, it's remarkably harmonious, particularly given
what could have been there." Once pockmarked with vacant lots, the
area was rezoned in 2003 to promote residential and commercial growth.
The new land-use regulations specified contextual design and capped
building heights, preventing an invasion of glistening glass towers.
Many consider the revitalization of Frederick Douglass Boulevard is a
major success; crime has dropped 16.5 percent in 10 years and many of
the new residential buildings contain affordable units. To critics of
the redevelopment, one must question what the alternative is: "Vacant
lots? Prostitutes and crack peddlers? We have a vibrancy there that we
haven't seen in decades."

Harlem's New Renaissance
August 25, 2011
Jenna M. McKnight
Architectural Record

For much of the 20th century, private developers ignored Harlem,
deterred by its high crime rate, profusion of subsidized housing, and
long trek from Midtown. During the malaise of the 1970s, the city
owned well over half of the real estate in this storied neighborhood,
long regarded as the nation's black cultural capital.

Then, in the past decade, everything changed. As property values in
other Manhattan districts soared, Harlem became the new development
frontier. City leaders helped spur the transformation, cracking down
on crime and rezoning key arteries such as 125th Street to make them
more developer-friendly. Meanwhile, nonprofit groups, like the Harlem
Children's Zone, continued to invest in the community.

The effects have been striking. Luxury condo buildings, bougie shops,
and a surge of new residents have appeared. According to census
figures, whites went from 2 percent of Harlem's population to 9.8
percent between 2000 and 2010. People of all ethnicities and income
levels now consider Harlem when hunting for a Manhattan home, due
largely to its real estate bargains. The average sale price of a two-
bedroom unit here is $694,000; in SoHo, it's $2.1 million. "Harlem has
become a viable alternative to markets in the south," says Jonathan
Miller, president of real estate appraiser Miller Samuel.

But with change inevitably comes conflict. And perhaps no urban
metamorphosis is more incendiary than the one taking place in Harlem,
where Duke Ellington took the "A" train, Langston Hughes wrote
racially charged poems, and Marcus Garvey launched his "Back to
Africa" campaign. Tied to these memories is Harlem's milieu: housing
projects, stately brownstones, soul-food restaurants, jazz lounges,
hair-braiding shops, and churches large and small. With gentrification
in full swing, Harlem residents don't just fear losing their homes;
they fear losing their history, their culture.

Architecture plays a role in this saga. "It's starting to look like
downtown," says Jaylene Clark, a young Harlem native who critiques the
neighborhood's gentrification in her new play, Renaissance in the
Belly of a Killer Whale. A mile-long stretch of Frederick Douglass
Boulevard reveals how quickly redevelopment can take hold. In recent
years, more than a dozen condo developments, plus a chichi hotel and
bevy of fashionable stores and eateries, have cropped up in the area,
rebranded as SoHa (South Harlem). Architecturally, some recent
structures refer to the existing buildings — mostly brick tenements
rising five to eight stories. Others, however, contrast with their
19th-century counterparts in terms of scale and aesthetics. The Parc
Standard, a modern, charcoal gray mid-rise designed by Architects
Studio with Gene Kaufman, juts high above the roofline of two flanking
buildings. The 28-unit Parc, with condos listed from $375,000 to
$790,000, sold out within 11 months.

Surprisingly, Michael Henry Adams, a staunch local preservationist and
author of Harlem: Lost and Found, is pleased with the new additions on
Frederick Douglass Boulevard. For the most part, they "are quiet
buildings that recede into the background and become good neighbors,"
he says. "As a whole, it's remarkably harmonious, particularly given
what could have been there." Once pockmarked with vacant lots, the
area was rezoned in 2003 to promote residential and commercial growth.
The new land-use regulations specified contextual design and capped
building heights, preventing an invasion of glistening glass towers.

"You have to balance this need to develop properties and manage growth
with a sensitivity toward what Harlem used to be, and what Harlem is
to longtime residents. It's not easy," says Paimaan Lodhi, the
district manager for Community Board 10, which covers central Harlem.
The revitalization of Frederick Douglass Boulevard is a major success,
he says, noting that crime has dropped 16.5 percent in 10 years and
many of the new residential buildings contain affordable units. To
critics of the redevelopment, he asks: "What's the alternative? Vacant
lots? Prostitutes and crack peddlers? We have a vibrancy there that we
haven't seen in decades."

Even Clark acknowledges gentrification's benefits. "I do feel safer,"
the playwright says. But as for her preference for the old or new
Harlem, there's no simple answer. "In an ideal world," she says, "I'd
take elements of both and put them together."

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