Harlem Residents Fear A Rezoned 125th Street

A city commission yesterday approved a massive rezoning plan for the heart of Harlem that would create condominiums, performing arts space, hotels, and a 21-story office tower with such high-profile tenants as Major League Baseball.

Officials say the changes approved by the Planning Commission will revive a cultural identity that had been threatened by unregulated development on 125th Street, a lively thoroughfare where remnants of the neighborhood's legendary past sit side-by-side with newly arrived banks and chain stores.

As new development sprouts among the soul food restaurants, funky record stores, and such landmarks as the Apollo Theater, Harlem's main street — named one of the nation's 10 greatest last year — is struggling to retain the character residents have cherished for decades.

But many longtime residents fear a rezoned 125th Street will price them out of their homes and erode even more of their community. "It will be a disaster," the owner of a 125th Street record store for more than three decades, Sikhulu Shange, said.

"People come to Harlem, they don't come to see a McDonald's. They don't come to see a Burger King," he said. "They want to come to places like The Record Shack, like Sylvia's [the famed soul food restaurant], where they can come down and feel the atmosphere of Harlem. All these things, they are in danger."

Many business leaders disagree with Mr. Shange's take on the zoning proposal, which has been in the works for four years and would cover dozens of blocks on 124th, 125th, and 126th Streets. Columbia University plans a $7 billion expansion on the west side of the corridor — approved late last year — that raised similar debates about displaced residents and changed neighborhood character.

The largest arts groups in the 125th Street corridor have supported it.