New Apartments Act as Catalyst for Area’s Change

The name “Hampton Court” for an apartment building on 102nd Street in East Harlem seems, at the least, ill-fitting when you consider the original Hampton Court is a 15th-century castle first owned by King Henry IV.This Hampton Court is most aptly described as a multistory compound with restricted access that is surrounded by check-cashing and liquor stores. The name certainly doesn’t embody the flavor of the neighborhood, nor does it seem that that was the intent. More likely, it was chosen to appeal to upper-income New Yorkers looking for luxury apartments that don’t come at the usual Manhattan prices.Hampton Court is one of several new residential developments in East Harlem built over the last year. Developed by the real estate firm Glenwood, the building opened in May, and all but five units are occupied. Rents range from $1,750 to $3,595, and the building was reported to have had interest from high-profile New Yorkers including actress Rosario Dawson and Robin Quivers, the laugh-happy sidekick of Howard Stern, both of whom came to see the apartments.Similarly,The Aspen is just one block away on First Avenue, between 100th and 101st streets. The building — a joint venture from L&M Equity Partners, Allstate Realty Associates, and BFC — opened in July, and, by December, all 232 units were occupied. Rents start at $1,500 for studios and $2,400 for two-bedroom units. Its tenant roster is said to include two newscasters, a supermodel, and a Saturday Night Live band member.The lobby is so minimalist-chic, you’d be forgiven for confusing it with a W Hotel.It’s doubtful people live in Hampton Court or The Aspen because of their location, although the proximity to the Upper East Side and the Lexington Avenue subway line probably doesn’t hurt. More likely, residents were drawn, in spite of the neighborhood, for the discount luxury apartments. A one-bedroom apartment south of 96th Street could easily cost $2,500. In fact, the average rental price last year for a one-bedroom apartment was $2,315, according to a market report from the real estate firm Citi-Habitats. Just six blocks north of 96th Street, a one-bedroom at Hampton Court costs $1,750.Throughout East Harlem, old buildings are being renovated, and new buildings are rising. Another luxury residential building opening is Rao’s City Views, a 22-unit building above Rao’s restaurant, a fixture on 114th Street and Pleasant Avenue. The managing principal of Rao’s City Views and owner of Rao’s restaurant, Ron Straci, decided a couple of years ago to combine the three small buildings his family owned with an empty lot to build a seven-story apartment building. The studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments are expected to fetch between $1,800 and $5,000 a month.“Five years ago, this would not have been possible,” Mr. Straci said. “It took 30 years for the real estate market to find East Harlem. Manhattan is an unusual island. It can’t get any bigger unless someone wants to build a deck over it, and as we run out of space, instead of tightening the belt, we loosen it.”Apartments in Rao’s City Views come with granite counters, dishwashers, and microwaves, and many of the units have East River views, one of which, Mr. Straci says, is so good that “you might be able to see Hawaii from it.”Although the building isn’t complete yet, the broker representing the property, Iris Lewinter, says the response has been “overwhelming.” Interest in East Harlem is a promising sign for future commercial development in the area, but it also means that housing has become less affordable for much of the population already there.“The displacement is incredible,” says Laurent Delly, a Citi-Habitats broker who specializes in East Harlem. “You can feel it. I just saw a woman looking for an apartment. She said she was looking to rent, and her budget was $800 or $900. I said, ‘Jeez, I have nothing to show you.’ And even an $1,100 apartment is very small. Where are these people going to go? The Bronx? New Jersey?”The rental market is not the only sector seeing strong demand. Sales prices are moving just as fast. The average price in Harlem was up 24.4% to $411,112 last year,according to the Prudential Douglas Elliman Manhattan Market Report compiled by appraisal firm Miller Samuel. Equally notable was that the report even included Harlem, a first this year. Brokers say that the biggest problem in East Harlem right now is that there isn’t enough inventory to go around.“Last week, I saw a three-bedroom on 117th and Madison that was priced at $600,000,” Mr. Delly says. “This week, I went back — I had someone who was interested — and the price was up to $695,000. That happened in one week.”As prices climb, the neighborhood’s culture tries to catch up. East Harlem still lacks the buzz that propels West and Central Harlem. Minton’s Play house and the Apollo Theater, for example, are both on the West side. And the Abyssinian Development Corporation, a nonprofit dedicated to revitalizing Harlem through affordable housing and family services, concentrates most of its millions of dollars in the rest of Harlem. By contrast, East Harlem’s current claim to fame is James De La Vega, a young artist who made his name by drawing stick figures on the street.Eliana Godoy wants to help change that. The 32 year-old owner of Carlitos Café y Galeria on Lexington Avenue and 106th Street says that if East Harlem lags culturally behind Central or West Harlem, it may be because a disproportionate amount of funding goes to Central Harlem, while East Harlem is, by comparison, neglected.Ms. Godoy, a loyal resident of East Harlem, moved to America 12 years ago but says she didn’t feel at home here until she moved to East Harlem in 1998. A native of Bolivia, Ms. Godoy says she immediately felt comfortable with the culture of the neighborhood. “There were four Bolivians living in East Harlem at the last Census,” she said. “I haven’t met the other three yet.”In 1999, Ms. Godoy founded Art For Change, a nonprofit that has as its mission promoting cultural diversity through art. She initially applied for a small business loan from Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone but was denied. She eventually received a loan from the New York Association for New Americans.Ms. Godoy says the empowerment zone group exists to fund business in Upper Manhattan, but the money is not evenly distributed between Washington Heights, East Harlem, Central Harlem, and West Harlem. She said, “East Harlem businesses haven’t gotten their fair share.”The president and chief executive of the group, Kenneth Knuckles, disagrees, and says that since the organization was founded, it has awarded roughly $37 million to Community Board 11, which includes East Harlem. A “comparable” sum, he says, has been awarded to Central Harlem’s Community Board 10.Whether East Harlem receives the same kind of financial backing as its neighbors, the area’s new residents will inevitably bring change. Mr. Straci, who grew up in East Harlem and whose grandparents started Rao’s in 1896, looks forward to seeing the area evolve.“When my grandparents moved here, it was German, Irish, and Jewish,” he said. “Then it was Puerto Rican. What is East Harlem? It’s not one thing. There will always be room for everyone, and maybe you’ll even see people come back to the neighborhood. I think it’s going to be a rebirth rather than a change.”

New Apartments Act as Catalyst for Area’s Change

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