A historic ballroom in central Harlem, once a cultural hub, will undergo a major makeover, as a nonprofit developer is breaking ground on a sizable mixed-use development Friday.

Abyssinian Development Corp., which argued against landmark designation last month, will redo the long-vacant Renaissance Ballroom and Renaissance Casino on Adam Clayton Boulevard and 138th Street. After more than a decade of planning, the organization will gut the now-decaying insides of the two structures, tear down an adjacent YWCA, and erect a 19-story mixed-income condominium tower on the southern half of the complex, along with building cultural space and numerous retail storefronts.

“We were always trying to develop a plan to bring the ballroom and the cultural space back to life,” the president of Abyssinian, Sheena Wright, said. For years the finances didn’t work out, Ms. Wright said, but the project became viable because of rising Harlem housing prices and a decision to incorporate the defunct YWCA site into the complex.

Built in the 1920s, the Renaissance Ballroom, known as “Renny,” and the adjacent Renaissance Casino are now boarded up with rotting plywood in place of their windows, and a giant rusty awning juts out over the sidewalk along Adam Clayton Boulevard.

While the buildings have been vacant for about 30 years, Ms. Wright said, they once hosted social club events, dances, the jazz greats that characterized the Harlem Renaissance, and a basketball team.

Ms. Wright said the development should be completed by late 2009. It will include 112 condos, along with 27,000 square feet of cultural and performance space, 10,000 square feet of commercial space, and 10,000 square feet of community space that could be used for meetings.

Abyssinian, a Harlem developer, has completed numerous neighborhood projects, including an International House of Pancakes.

A possible landmark designation had been sitting on the desk of the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission for more than a decade, but prohibitive landmark-designation restrictions would have prevented any developer from creating a feasible project, and thus the complex would just rot away, Abyssinian said.

After hearing supportive testimony from community leaders such as Mayor Dinkins, who had his wedding reception in the ballroom, the LPC voted 6-1 last month to drop the complex from its agenda, allowing Abyssinian to proceed with its plans.

However, while numerous community groups backed the general concept of the development, some say the building’s historic value outweighs the development’s benefits.

“It’s a great mistake to feel that modern development needs to crowd out the great history,” a member of the Morningside Heights Historic District Committee, Carolyn Kent, said. Funds could eventually be raised to build in the existing structures, she added, and Abyssinian could find another space for development.