City Files Plans For Garden-Replacing Harlem Development

HARLEM, NY — A city agency has filed plans to construct a new mixed-use development on the site of a former community garden that fought to block the new building in court.

The city Department of Housing Preservation and Development's building will rise 75-feet-tall on West 126th Street between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, according to building plans. Sections of the development will be zoned for residential, commercial and community facility uses.

With 28,836 square feet allocated to residential use and 37 planned apartments, the average unit in the building will be about 779 square feet large. Seven apartments will be located on the second and third floors of the building and the remaining floors will have five apartments each. Planned residential amenities include an exercise facility, rooftop green space and bicycle storage.

The first floor of the building will house a residential lobby, a 5,675 square foot community space and a 1,086 square foot commercial facility, according to building plans. The community space will be occupied by a tech incubator and a restaurant is planned for the commercial space.

Stewards of the Nelson Mandela Community Garden fought the city's plan for the site in state Supreme Court. The west 126th Street lot sat vacant for 30 years prior to the community garden's founding. In addition to being an eyesore, the vacant lot often attracted crime, Mandela Garden leader René Calvo said during a November rally.

"We de-paved it and transformed it into a thriving wildflower garden that supports bio-diversity at its most fundamental level. It's a garden that removes toxins from the soil through the natural process of phytoremeditation. A garden that is a reverse engine for climate change. A garden that reduces crime, improves mental health, and creates community," Calvo said in a statement.

The city had already demolished parts of the garden in November to get the site ready for development.

Read more about the garden's legal fight here.

The city revealed plans in January 2017 to develop a building at 263-267 W. 126th St. that will contain 29 below-market housing units constructed to adhere to "passive building" standards. Silicon Harlem, a tech incubator that offers seven-week courses on STEM education and enrichment for high school students, will also be a tenant in the building according to the city.

Lead Photo by Google Maps street view