New 10-Story Building Coming To Empty Harlem Lot, Plans Show

EAST HARLEM, NY — An empty lot on a busy East Harlem corner will soon be home to a 10-story apartment building including some affordable units, according to city records.

The developer Affect Group filed plans this month to construct a 10-story building at 1638 Park Ave., on the corner of East 116th Street. The corner site facing the Metro-North train tracks has been vacant since around 2017, when a one-story building housing a deli and an accountant's office was torn down.

The new building will stand 103 feet tall and include 24 apartments — including an unspecified number designated as affordable, according to the plans. It will also include 1,500 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor.

It will be designed by Marin Architects, a Midtown-based firm whose other projects include apartment buildings in the Bronx and an Apple Store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The plans did not specify when construction would begin. One possible consequence of the development is the mural on the adjoining building that pays tribute to the lives lost in the 2014 East Harlem gas explosion, which will presumably be covered up by the new building.

Other developments being planned nearby include