Harlem Board Grills One45 Developers Over Affordability, Impact

HARLEM, NY — Harlemites spent nearly three hours grilling the developers behind the two-tower proposal on West 145th Street and Lenox Avenue on Thursday, alternating between skeptical and outright hostile as they sought answers about the project's affordability and impact on the surrounding neighborhood.

The public hearing by Community Board 10 gave residents their best opportunity yet to weigh in on the project — dubbed "One45" — and speak to the team behind it: developer Bruce Teitelbaum, who has roped in tenants like the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network, whose existing headquarters on the site would be replaced in the new building.

Before starting construction, developers will need the city's approval to rezone the block to allow for more dense construction and get special permits to waive height and parking limits, among other changes. The community board will hold a final vote on Jan. 5 — though its input is not binding — before a final vote by the City Council sometime next year.

For about an hour Thursday, presenters touted the project's benefits. The current low-rise block, home until recently to a gas station, a mosque, a restaurant and other shops, would be replaced by a pair of 363-foot-tall towers with ground-floor retail space that would make 145th Street an "active streetscape," according to developers.

Developers are working with the block's existing tenants to find them new homes, and the retail space in the new development will focus on local businesses — with no "big box" stores, according to One45 representative Tristan Nadal.

Most notably, while the current block has no residential units, One45 would include more than 900 apartments — including up to 282 units set aside as affordable.

Nestled between the two towers will be a museum devoted to the Civil Rights Movement in the Northern U.S. — a project that Sharpton has been planning for years. Presenters showed renderings of the four-story museum, which would include galleries, an educational center and a rooftop garden.

Outer walls on both towers would host a pair of enormous murals measuring 15,000 square feet each — together comprising "one of the largest public works of art in the world," according to developers.

"We expect that this design will enhance the Harlem skyline while offering quality community amenities, living conditions, stores, workspaces and community facilities," Nadal said.

Affordability levels are questioned

Once residents began to question the developers on Thursday, the topic quickly turned to just how affordable One45's affordable units would be.

Responding to a question from board member Joshua Clennon, One45's Nadal said developers were considering two affordability schemes through the city's mandatory inclusionary housing program. One option would make 25 percent of units affordable for people making 60 percent of the area median income (AMI) — about $50,000 for a single person — or alternatively, having 30 percent of units be affordable at 80 percent AMI — equivalent to $66,880.

Neighbors reacted negatively to those income brackets. Karen Dixon, a board member, reminded developers that the board had recently passed a resolution calling for the development to include housing no higher than 60 percent AMI, and as low as 30 percent.

"Eighty percent is not a clear reflection of what this community wants," Dixon said.

Others who spoke up raised fears of gentrification, suggesting that the development's market-rate units would serve white people coming from higher-income neighborhoods, rather than Black residents from Harlem. Teitelbaum, the developer, pushed back strongly, saying that "This project is not being built for wealthy people, it is not going to be marketed to wealthy people."

"I assure you that this is not a project that wealthy people will be coming to," he said.

One of the most scathing testimonies was delivered by Michael Henry Adams, a neighborhood preservationist who suggested that One45's civil rights focus was merely a distraction from its main uses.

"This is an appalling thing where a civil rights museum is being used as a fig leaf to camouflage two obscene, large residential towers that are bigger than anything anywhere around them," Adams said.

Leaders of NAN have repeatedly distanced themselves from the developers, saying they began working on the project only after their longtime "House of Justice" on 145th Street was bought out from under them.

"NAN has every right to fight to not be displaced and fulfill its mission," executive vice president Michael Hardy told the board Thursday. NAN's new home in the development would measure 30,000 square feet, hosting weekly rallies, broadcasts, youth events and staff offices overlooking the Col. Charles Young Playground.

Other concerns raised Thursday centered on the impact that an influx of more than 1,000 residents would have on neighborhood infrastructure — especially the nearby 3 train station at 145th Street, whose small platform fits only six subway cars.

The relatively few speakers who defended One45 during Thursday's meeting included Melba Wilson, the Harlem restaurateur who said the development would enliven the neighborhood and create career paths much like her own.

"When I look at the One45 project ... I see opportunities for higher-paying jobs, I see career opportunities, I see a pathway to ownership and success," Wilson said. "To me, 145th Street should be a major thoroughfare and I just don’t see it getting the same attention that other neighborhoods are getting."

After One45 winds its way through the city's monthslong public review process known as ULURP, the City Council will likely vote sometime next summer whether to approve or disapprove it.

One important factor will be the preferences of incoming Councilmember Kristin Richardson Jordan, who told Patch in June that she thought the proposal was too tall and lacked enough affordable units.

Previous coverage:

• Harlem's Massive 'One45' Development Faces Neighbors' Scrutiny
• Harlem's New Action Network HQ To Tower Over Neighborhood