REVIVE: THE CORN EXCHANGE BUILDING TOPS OFF

Almost 25 years after a fire destroyed the roof of the Corn Exchange Building at 125th Street, the Harlem landmark by Park Avenue has finally acquired a new ceiling.  Back in 1987, squatters at the abandoned city-owned building nearly burned the entire structure down but everything held up except the roof.  By 1993, the iconic 125th Street building would be declared an official city landmark but the local government still did not do much to restore the building.

The empty Corn Exchange would then be sold to a local community activist by 2003 who was not able to do much until the structure became more unstable six years later.  By then the top 4 floors had to be demolished.  This was a critical juncture point since demolition by neglect is a strong reason for the city to sue a property owner and return a building to the government.  A new developer now in charge of the building and will be replicating the lost floors in the coming months. Check out the final sketches in our past post: LINK