We walked by the pristine chain of stores and butcher shop called the Casablanca in the brand new, seven story building in East Harlem, wondering what it was all about since the corner seemed more luxurious than its neighbors on 110th Street. Yesterday's New York Times has an article on the buildings owner, Luis Perez, who was the local butcher in East Harlem back in the day when drugs were rampant and properties cheap. Mr. Perez grew up in tough neighborhoods so looked passed the crime and and bought out buildings in East Harlem as a back up for fear that the government might develop the empty lots next to his shop and take away his own store. Fast forward a couple of decades and the butcher had enough equity from his cheap building purchases to buy out those neighboring lots and work with a developer to build a contextual mixed use building that would house a grocer, a restaurant,the original butcher shop and community housing. Another key point here is that all of the residential units in the building are affordable based on the median income of the immediate neighborhood and not that of the city standard. Read about the details in the NY Times:
LINK. Top photo by Ulysses, lower photo courtesy of Katie Orlinksy.
We walked by the pristine chain of stores and butcher shop called the Casablanca in the brand new, seven story building in East Harlem, wondering what it was all about since the corner seemed more luxurious than its neighbors on 110th Street. Yesterday's New York Times has an article on the buildings owner, Luis Perez, who was the local butcher in East Harlem back in the day when drugs were rampant and properties cheap. Mr. Perez grew up in tough neighborhoods so looked passed the crime and and bought out buildings in East Harlem as a back up for fear that the government might develop the empty lots next to his shop and take away his own store. Fast forward a couple of decades and the butcher had enough equity from his cheap building purchases to buy out those neighboring lots and work with a developer to build a contextual mixed use building that would house a grocer, a restaurant,the original butcher shop and community housing. Another key point here is that all of the residential units in the building are affordable based on the median income of the immediate neighborhood and not that of the city standard. Read about the details in the NY Times: LINK. Top photo by Ulysses, lower photo courtesy of Katie Orlinksy.
Nice to see someone from the neighborhood that gets it. Harlem is Manhattan, but also different and I wish more developers would understand that fact.
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