Thursday, May 27, 2010

☞ REVIVE: 753 St. Nicholas Picks up Pace

When we last checked on the empty lot at 148th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, the new building planned for the site was just getting its foundation together at the end of March. A couple of months later, the form of the decidedly modern building that was approved for construction in the Sugarhill historic district seems to be at its max height. The oriel-like building extension is currently being filled in and we are guessing this new condo complex to really be coming together by end of summer. This is one of the newest buildings to be added on the block for quite some time so it will be interesting to see how it blends in (Landmarks approved it, so it should be good). See the original sketch in our past post: LINK. Photo by Ulysses

3 comments:

  1. It seems to fit well according to the rendering.

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  2. Every vacant lot in Harlem should be bought by smart developers and turned into something like this. Just imagine how much nicer the streets would be.

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  3. Hopefully, the developer won't go the absolutely least expensive route with facade materials. I'm fortunate. live in one of the recently built (early 2000's)townhomes in East Harlem. The bricklayers and mechanical contractors did an excellent job. The carpentry however, was fair at best. The structure is decent enough though considering whatever was there before had long since deteriorated past the point of no return. However, there has been a marked deterioration in the quality of many of the buildings built in this area recently. Some (not all) of the cheap crap condo-builings built in this area in the last few years are wretched. And in twenty years or so when all the crummy materials and shoddy craftsmanship have deteriorated they'll look much worse. More than developers being smart, developers who will give at least a nod to some sort of architectual integrity and craftsmanship are needed. Often these parcels of land are aquired from the city for a song. Most of the labor is non-union as far as I can tell (itself a shame). Considering labor costs, site costs, tax incentives the developers get, and the overall cheap and poor quality in construction materials coupled with the selling price asked for some of these places, anyone buying is a fool. It just encourages bad behavior.

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