125th Street Could See Another Apartment Tower As Lot Goes Up For Sale

HARLEM, NY — The 125th Street boom shows no signs of stopping, as another lot on Harlem's "Main Street" has been listed for sale ahead of a likely redevelopment.

The site at 268 West 125th St., between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. boulevards, has long been home to a one-story retail building, most recently containing a Foot Locker "House of Hoops" shoe store.

That long-term lease has now run out, resulting in a rare vacancy that prompted the building's owners to sell the land, according to broker Dwane Omar Jones of Marcus & Millichap, who is handling the sale.

Owners are asking for $13,275,000 for the 5,000-square-foot site that sits across the street from the Apollo Theater, though a listing has not yet been posted publicly.

Given the site's zoning and air rights, whoever buys the lot could construct a new building standing eight stories tall — or up to 10 stories if developers get a zoning bonus for adding affordable housing or a community facility, Jones told Patch.

The new building would likely contain apartments on the upper floors and commercial space at ground level, given 125th Street's history as "a very, very strong retail corridor," Jones said.

The block also sits within a Qualified Opportunity Zone: the sites created by the Trump administration in its 2017 tax bill that give developers tax breaks for building in low-income areas.

A full listing will be posted in the coming months on Marcus & Millichap's website, Jones said.

This would be the latest in a series of planned or in-progress developments along 125th Street, joining the huge Victoria Theater tower and an upcoming 12-story apartment building at 219 West 125th St. — both of which are right across the street from the for-sale site.

Other new 125th Street developments include the future 18-story National Urban League headquarters, a proposed 25-story hotel tower near Park Avenue, and the office building-turned-apartment complex on the Third Avenue Pathmark supermarket site.