New affordable apartments in Central Harlem ready to welcome families. Get a look inside.
NEW YORK — Nearly 200 families are about to start moving into their brand-new affordable apartments at Marcus Garvey Village in Central Harlem. A vision that started decades ago has finally come to fruition.
Seventy thousand applicants anticipated the lottery assignments for 170 all-affordable apartments along 124th Street, for families making 50% of the area median income or less.
$100 million project completed in Harlem
The $100 million project was subsidized by the city and the market rate neighbors in the attached apartment building next door.
"We basically took the exact same concepts of what we did and worked in the market-rate building and just put that here," explained developer Ed Poteat.
Poteat made sure the amenities are not all for the lucky families who will live there. Also opening for groups to gather is a plaza named for the late longtime local leader Bill Perkins, paying homage to Poteat's mentor.
"He was the only person I knew who went to college and who worked when I was growing up," Poteat said, "and devoted decades to Central Harlem, so this was the least that I could do, which is to honor his legacy with this community terrace."
Poteat also developed a relationship with Rev. Dr. Calvin Butts of Abyssinian Baptist Church, who owned the land before entrusting the project to Poteat's team.
"I thought they both would still be alive, doing their thing," Poteat said, "but Rev. Butts, from the '80s, had a vision to build Harlem up for Harlemites, by Harlemites."
"I hope this is a template"
Another part of the plan for Marcus Garvey Village, offering rooftop reservations for free for local nonprofits. African-American Day Parade organizers already held their appreciation party in the space.
"I just want to give them kudos for having the foresight and the insight to say, this is worthwhile," said Yusuf Hasan, Chairman of the African-American Day Parade. "It's just something that touches my heart."
"This was like the first time in all of those years that they were able to really give honor, respect, accolades and awards and proclamations to the people of the community that have worked on that parade," added Mari Moss, regional director of the Community Action Board.
The bottom of the building still has room to grow, alongside the new home of the Harlem Center, a safe space for the Black and brown LGBTQ community.
"I hope this is a template for what other developers can do," Poteat said, "and I hope it's a template for what the community should ask for."
Poteat has already broken ground on a similar dual development nearby.
Families start moving into Marcus Garvey Village on Dec. 1.
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