☞ REVIVE: The Restored Harlem Block

There seems to be two types of developers in the affordable housing business these days.  On the one hand, there are those who demolish and build as high as possible and then there are the ones that restore blocks.  Case in point for the latter is L + M Partners and the transformation of Central Harlem's West 148th Street, between FDB/8th Avenue and ACP/7th Avenue. All of the buildings at the top photo were abandoned back in 1998 and the developers have since pristinely restored the entire north side of the block and kept the buildings affordable.  On the opposite south side of the street is the major recent success story of the PS90 condo conversion which also has affordable units and a community space which will now be home to the National Dance Institute.  That particular public school building had trees growing out of it and had been derelict for decades.  The city provided a lot of incentives to attract an experience developer for this type of affordable block transformation and this really is a modern role model that counters decades of failed Urban Renewal efforts.   Read more in the Daily News: LINK