Harlem Developer Plans New Apartment Buildings On 3 Different Blocks

HARLEM, NY — Three Harlem blocks will soon be reshaped by a trio of new apartment buildings, all planned by the same neighborhood real estate developer, according to city records and the company's leader.

Artifact, a self-described "real estate development startup" that also runs the Harlem Collective co-working space in Hamilton Heights, filed plans this week for new apartment buildings on 12th Avenue near West 133rd Street, and on Amsterdam Avenue at West 151st Street.

That's on top of an additional project on West 152nd and Amsterdam that Artifact revealed earlier this year. A portion of all three buildings will be affordable, Artifact CEO Javier Martinez told Patch on Friday.

Here's what we know about each project.

2335 12th Ave.

Currently a three-story warehouse building, this site under the Riverside Drive Viaduct between West 133rd and 134th street will become an 11-story, 120-foot tall apartment building, according to plans filed with the city on Wednesday.

Containing 86 apartments, the building will also include more than 9,000 square feet of commercial space. Artifact purchased the property for $18 million in March, city records show.

Construction on the 12th Avenue building will likely begin in about a year and a half, Martinez said.

503 West 151st St.

Here, a new seven-story building will take up a chunk of the block from the northwest corner of West 151st Street and Amsterdam Avenue, halfway up half the block through 1848 Amsterdam Ave., Martinez said.

Artifact spent $5.5 million last month to purchase the strip of three-story buildings on the corner, and already owns the adjacent four-story building at 1848 Amsterdam Ave. The Harlem Collective building at 1850 Amsterdam will not be affected by the new project, though it will extend its programming into the new building, Martinez said.

The new building will include 63 apartments, plus nearly 13,000 square feet of commercial space that Martinez described as "small community retail."

The businesses on that block, which currently include Cake Lords Bakery and Savory Deli, will presumably be forced to close before work begins — also in about a year and a half, Martinez said.

1861-1869 Amsterdam Ave.

Right across the street, on the northeast corner of Amsterdam and West 152nd Street, Artifact is planning a five-story apartment building that will replace the existing two-story medical clinic at 1861 Amsterdam Ave. — which Artifact bought for $11.4 million in 2018.

The site will also include the three-story building at 1867 Amsterdam, which now houses operations for Harlem Collective.

The new 47-unit building will also include 5,700 square feet of commercial space. Planning for this project is in more advanced stages: Martinez has already moved to demolish the existing buildings, and construction will likely begin by the end of this year, he said.

All three buildings will be about 30 percent affordable, through the state's 421-a tax break program.

Martinez declined to share any drawings or renderings of the new buildings, but said that all three would be "contextual" with the surrounding neighborhood.

"We’re not going to put some offensive buildings in those areas," Martinez said. "We’re obviously of the community."