Updated: NYSC Signs a 15 Year Lease
New York Sports Club signed a 15-year lease at 68 Bradhurst Ave., between West 145th and West 146th streets. The 16,200-square-foot gym — the chain’s second in Harlem — is slated to open this summer on the first two floors of a 180-unit condo building. Ripco Real Estate Corp. represented property owners Gotham Organization and The Richman Group, and New York Sports Club negotiated on its own behalf.
Source: Crain’s/Newyorkbusiness.com
The New York Observer’s Real Estate Section has posted the press release announcing the newLangston retail tenants, but remember that you heard it on UPTOWNflavor first!
In reference to the Starbuck’s:
The company is also expanding its presence in Upper Manhattan, signing a 10-year lease at the corner of West 145th Street and Bradhurst Avenue, in a deal announced on Wednesday.
In reference to NYSC and a portion of the press release:
The Central Harlem location is part of the Gotham Organization’s mixed-use development, The Langston, which will also include a brand-spankin’ new New York Sports Club–thus providing a one-stop shop for local folks looking to get fully razzed up for 30-minutes on the elliptical.
One tall- and one grande-sized press release comin’ up after the jump.
- Chris Shott
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TWO LANDMARK DEALS CHANGE WEST 145TH STREET’S RETAIL LANDSCAPE. GOTHAM ORGANIZATION AND THE RICHMAN GROUP DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION SIGN NEW YORK SPORTS CLUBS AND STARBUCKS COFFEE TO THE LANGSTON, ITS NEWLY-COMPLETED MIXED-USE HARLEM RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT
* * *
NYSC 16,200 SF Facility To Be First Major Health Club Above 125th Street;
Starbucks To Occupy 1,500 SF, Expanding Presence in Upper Manhattan
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – January 17, 2007 – Gotham Organization and The Richman Group have recently signed a 15-year lease with New York Sports Clubs (NYSC) at The Langston, its new 180-unit mixed-use luxury condominium, at 68 Bradhurst Avenue between West 145th and 146th Streets. The new 16,200 square foot facility, scheduled to open in the summer of 2007, will be the first major health club above West 125th Street. It is also NYSC’s second Harlem facility — the first is located in the Harlem USA retail complex on West 125th Street, also developed and built by Gotham. Scott Auster, a broker with Ripco Real Estate Corp., represented Gotham and The Richman Group in this leasing transaction. John Epifanio, Development Manager, handled the lease negotiations for NYSC.
NYSC, a division of Town Sports International, will occupy a portion of two floors at The Langston, with its entrance located on the street level of 145th Street, between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and Bradhurst Avenue. The club, which will offer full-fitness, sauna, spin and aerobics studios, plans to take possession in February 2007, and will immediately commence a build-out scheduled to take between 5 and 6 months. The architect, Gensler, will design the space.
In a second landmark deal, Gotham and Richman signed a 10-year lease with Starbucks Coffee at The Langston for 1,500 square feet of space. The store is scheduled to open spring 2007 on the prime corner of West 145th Street and Bradhurst Avenue. The new location is part of Starbucks commitment to expanding its presence in Upper Manhattan. Auster also represented Gotham and Richman in this deal.
“NYSC’s and Starbucks presence will greatly impact the retail landscape of central Harlem, specifically along the West 145th Street corridor, accelerating the retail transformation that is already underway there,” says David Picket, President of Gotham Organization. NYSC and Starbucks will join other prominent retailers already operating along 145th Street such as Pathmark, Duane Reade and Chase. In addition, Bank of America is scheduled to open on the corner of Frederick Douglass Boulevard and 145th Street this summer.
“There is explosive growth of new residential development in Harlem and both NYSC and Starbucks have recognized the need for their respective services,” says Ripco’s Auster. “When thinking of retail in Upper Manhattan, 125th Street has traditionally come to mind due to mass transit and chain stores in the area. But West 145th Street is quickly becoming the next big retail corridor in Harlem, in part due to the new wave of residential development, as well as an existing infrastructure that includes parks and convenience to transportation.”
In a span of just five (5) years, the West 145th Street corridor has experienced a tremendous influx of new residential development, providing luxury living in the form of full service amenities and apartment finishes. The Langston is the second development along the corridor by the Gotham/Richman joint venture; the first was The Hamilton, completed in 2002 at the corner of Edgecombe Avenue. The Langston, which will begin occupancy in the next couple of weeks, features two and three bedroom homes and Penthouse duplexes.
About Gotham Organization, Inc.
As an active participant in the redevelopment of Harlem, Gotham co-developed and constructed Harlem USA on West 125th Street, one of the country’s pioneering urban entertainment and retail complexes The Langston is Gotham’s second joint venture with The Richman Group, having recently completed The Hamilton, a 77-unit residential cooperative located at West 145th Street and Edgecombe Avenue.
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When I put down my deposit for the Langston in 3/06, the prospectus was very clear that the building may not be ready to occupy until 7/7. I moved in in June and LOVE the place. I only wish I had stretched and bought a penthouse unit.
I just learned that another NYSC club will open this summer at 115th and 5th. It was supposed to be the site of the “Harlem Sports Club”, but I guess that fell through.
Ms. Millian I feel your pain. I could have never imagined this process would have taken so long. Tell me more about this “Sue the Langston meeting”.
68% yeah but the small print to that is… Since they have sold mix units (meaning some to afforable housing folks)they will not consider the building as ready untill 50% of the market rate units have been sold.
They do not consider the (as they would explain it) “subsidized” units as marketable since they loose out a large share of the sale.
Bloomberg signed some sort of affordable housing grant with them to give they permission to build there. Its all a bunch of hog wash and i am seriously tried of it. I found a few others that escrowed they money early on with the same issues of empty promises.
Even my first lender (chase) won’t finanice their building. Chase explained to me they have invested a lot of fees in apraisals & porcessors just or the langston to either not comply with the insurance certificates or close on the date they claim to be ready to do.
Me & the rest is considering going to court for our escrow back with pumitive damage to our current living arangments. to anyone reading this that is in the same delima you are welcome to join us at our next “Sue the Langston meeting”
Just saw an ad that the Langston is 68% sold. Maybe you can use that as leverage.
Hello.. I just want to share my langston experience. I signed a purchase agreement back in April of 05 with The langston with a assurity it would have been complted by June of 06 (YEAH RIGHT) at the time they quickly rushed me to get a preapproval from my lender and to depoist my check for escrow to secure my unit. It is now 2007 and i stikll have yet to move into my supposed unit. After extensive phone calls & letters i finally recieve a responce that the building will not be ready till 50% of the units are under contact… WHAT…. This is pure bullshit. These people stressed me out to get fiancing they very quickly cashed my check just for almost 2yrs later and no closing date. I was recently forced to renew my lease on my apartment again for 2yrs becuase my landlord do not do 1yr leases and to top it off i cannot sublet. I been wanted to pull out of contact with the langston but that last paragraph of very fine print in the exhibt section stated no refunds will be given on escrow depoists unless a bank on their letter head states i am not lender worthy. I am so disapointed with the langston and their deceptive ways to selling units. Had i know all of this i wouldn’t have purchased there. So to anyone interested in the Langston GOOD LUCK i would advise not to BOTHER
Hugo, you do have a point concerning buildings that were formerly under Mitchell-Lama but then it goes back to ppl being educated about what they are signing up for. A lot fo the ppl complaining never wanted to own anything and thought they could just continue renting for ever no matter what the conditions they were living in. New York is a city of opportunities more so than anywhere else in the world. Move up or move out…that is the history of New York neighborhoods.
Currently Delano Village (now known as Savoy Park) is going through the same turnover as 3333 Broadway. It is a nice structure and it should be renovated but the old tenants are fighting it tooth and nail. Many of them had shady deals from back the day where they were paying partial rents or getting two apartments for the price of one…all kinds of under the table activity. Now that the building has been sold and they are cleaning house ppl are complaining. The renovations look nice. I have a friend who recently moved into a renovated apartment and it is comparable to many of the luxury developments going up around Harlem. The halls have been cleaned up and there is new carpeting and lighting. It is a nice place to live but ppl would rather live in filth than to pay a little more to live in a nicer and safer environment (they have on-site security).
I understand one posters complaints about Nellie Bailey. She is part of the problem not the solution. She is misguiding these ppl by telling them to not pay rent and to stay renters instead of trying to save up money so they can purchase their homes if the opportunity presents itself. If ppl love Harlem so much how come they won’t invest in the community? And now they want to be mad at those who are? It doesn’t make sense to me.
i completely agree that seeing harlem burn instead of seeing it revamped is quite disturbing. if you read MF’s comment on the suburnanization of harlem, you get a very honest account of how many people in harlem historically passed up opportunities of home ownership and programs targeted at assistant renters appropriate their apartments as coops. i am guilty of it too and am trying to catch up. as luncher said, those of us are still here should try to find a way to hold on to our own piece of harlem instead whining about the new stores and pointing fingers. btw, i’m going to be moving into the langston. so stop snapping on my gym! lol
well ac, i do see in my immediate neighborhood to an extent. first there is an iconic building on the corner of where i live, 3333 broadway.this building was built as one of those affordable housing complexes for low/mid income families ala “the projects”. it has something like 1100 units. the thing is massive.growing up i would be scare of going to that building because of some serious beatings some of my friends who lived there got.however, i remember a whole bunch of my family members applying for housing there because utilities were included in the rent price.they used to have a massive waiting list.no one in my family ever managed as much as an interview in more than 10 years.
anyway, cut away to fall 2005 a couple of college aged folks (one white, and one asian-american) asked me “where’s 3333 broadway?” I asked with a smirk…”are you sure you have the right address?” they showed me their hopspot.com printout and surely enough it was the right address. i pointed out the ominous structure to them. they asked me if the neighborhood was safe because they were considering renting.i told them how it was back then and that I hadn’t stepped in there for like 15 years but the neighborhood itself was a lot safer than it was before.at the same time i was seriously wondering two things…1)why the hell did they choose 3333? and 2)how the hell did they break through the 100′s of people on the waiting list?
i did some googling and came up with an ’05 article from the columbia spectator that said “the owners of 3333 Broadway opted out of the Mitchell-Lama affordable housing program that gave them mortgage subsidies and required rent stabilization for a fixed number of units.” immediately i freaked!it was when i started to research all the projects happening in harlem. it was also when i discovered uptownflavor. i mean the whole gentrification thing really hit home.
also, my mother runs a preschool/afterschool center and i remember two different parent applicants from that building tell that every week they saw 4-5 people moving out either because of evictions or just not being able to afford the rent increase. they may have been exaggerating a bit, but I heard similar accounts from many other sources. it may be more like 4-5 a month. one lady told me that her eligibility was under investigation because she had forgotten to report $600 that her daughter earned doing one semester of work-study at her college. supposedly because of her not reporting it they were closing her case and charging her $1100(which she clearly stated she could not afford) as opposed to the $400 she was paying originally. she even asked to ask around for a potential room renter to help her pay the rent.
i’m pretty sure the building owners and the city are working within the parameters of the law but they are heavily scrutinizing the folks receiving section 8 assistance or other type of vouchers. perhaps in the hopes of finding some type of violation on behalf of the renters to clear more apartments, renovate them, and renting them at market rate.that’s my personal opinion.these spruced up apt’s are apparently starting at $1100-$1400.
and i have seen an uncharacterisically increasing amount of whites/asians, mostly in their late 20′s and early 30′s walking into the building as tenants like it’s no thing.that’s the only first hand experience i have of that type of thing happening. i’ve also seen many more moving into other buildings in the immediate area. i can’t say if it’s because of similar “displacement” or because a lot of building owners in the area have done cosmetic renovations to the buildings to make them more appealing.
btw, the link that article is http://media.www.columbiaspectator.com/media/storage/paper865/news/2005/11/16/NewsmanhattanvilleExpansion/Tenants.Fear.Rises.With.Rent-2029710.shtml?norewrite200612051430&sourcedomain=www.columbiaspectator.com
Luncher-my experience has been similar to yours…i just wasnt sure if others were seeing something different. since i live closer to central harlem, i thought maybe that was the case where i was–but over by broadway maybe there was a different story.
i’ve seen a mix of who owns a lot of the new places. i have to say i was heartened when i did some research and found out that the two guys who own PM and are opening the new high end bistro on 129th were black.
I also wanted to say that I have been seeing some of these new places and they are quite spacious as long as you don’t have oversized furniture or attempt to overcrowd them with extended family when they are designed for one family living comfortably.
Another thing is that these luxury developments are not displacing anyone since they are being built on land that was formerly vacant or empty lots filled with trash!
And while we’re on the topic have you noticed that the new “upscale” businesses that are opening are owned and operated by *gasp* black people???? People who are educated and dedicated to building a better Harlem. They have given up their lucrative 9-5 in the world of finance and other fields to make Harlem a better place to live. I have yet to frequent a new business that is not minority owned.
I think it is a scary thought that ppl would rather see Harlem burn than progress and be a cleaner, more comfortable place to live. If the rent increases most ppl do what needs to be done…get a second job, go back to school to get a better job, marry up…something rather than sit back and point fingers. Sometimes our mindset is our biggest detriment.
Harlem has a serious obesity issue. A nice, clean gym with working equipment is a bad thing for the community??? The little local gyms where sub-par and to be honest most Harlemites who wanted a good work out did it downtown after work, not here in Harlem anyway. They were already spending the money with these businesses…it is nothing new. Whether Harlemites spend the money downtown or uptown is neithere here nor there, these businesses are getting the uptown dollars regardless. I would prefer that it be more convenient for me. Why should we have to settle for less if we can afford to do better?
AC, I am glad you brought up that point because I was wondering the same thing. I live in a newly renovated rent stab. building in Harlem where 2 bdrms go for less than $900 mo. Even with yearly rent increases it is still a better bargain than parts of the Bronx and shouldn’t force anyone out of the neighborhood. With the better quality grocery stores and other amenities that are coming with the “new wave of emigrants” it sort of balances out when you think about it. Ppl were traveling to other areas to buy the “good stuff.” I know ppl in Harlem and the Bronx who would go downtown to Fairway and Citerella or to Yonkers for simple grocery shopping. And these aren’t high society … they are regular folk.
curious hugo if you’re seeing the same thing? people already leaving the hood?
over where i am, there hasnt been much of that so it’s hard to judge how much of it is real and how much is fear.
hey vanessa, which building are referring to? i’m down the block from 3333…just curious.
and people need to stop referring to Harlem as upper manhattan true it may be upper manhattan but once yellow cabs decided to go past 96th street thats when it becomes upper manhattan? forget that one, it’s harlem if you don’t know the name then don’t go to the location.
nysc, starbucks, the langston, chase…do you think that these are black owned businesses? no they’re not…theses major chains are what is destroying harlem, yes there has been a lot of recent development lately building those “luxury” apartments. have you ever been in one? they’re small, cramped, over priced, and because rents are going up people are being priced out of their homes. soon the very fabric and essence of harlem’s back bone will be gone and we will have another upper west side and quite frankly i would rather see it burn then be degraded so. filled with nothing but spoiled columbia brats and ccny kids who are trying to “get by”. and i’m hoping to god that some major chain anything doesn’t get their hands on that old building near broadway it’s too important to the residents over there to be turned into some yuppy white/uppity too good to be brown black spot. i’m from that area i’m speaking from personal views and the views of others, that is right around the corner from my house. so many of my neighbors have sold their houses because they hate what its becoming and this nysc will only force the deterioration of harlem even faster. there used to be so many black owned businesses but major chains come into the community and the small independant stores have to close. this is not positive development this is the socio-economic destruction of what harlem was and its spirit. true a lot of the streets have been cleaned up and you have to search for the crackheads now, but they didn’t clean things up for the residents that for sure. if they want something then they should take all the clothing stores owned by the dominicans on broadway, they all sell the same crap anyway.
I love me some Starbucks BUT don’t forget about Sugar Hill Coffee and Tea- it’s just west on 145th, about 20 steps from the Hamilton.
Locally owned, independent coffee house, the couple who own it do poetry nights and other cool stuff.
Now, can someone please move into that abandoned school on 145th near Broadway? Such a baeutiful building and it’s just sitting there.
Cant wait for the Starbucks; we’re moving on up
Man, what a pleasant surprise. I feel bad for that gym over on Broadway though.
Yes, there is gym in the Langston that is rather small but definitely useful.
Best regards
Micael Holmstrom
P.S. I will soon be moving in to the Langston with the wife and kids so who knows maybe I will see you at the gym in the near future!
ooooo, can’t wait!