Construction is nearing completion on the Urban League Empowerment Center, a 17-story mixed-use building at 121 West 125th Street in Harlem, Manhattan. Designed by Beyer Blinder Belle and developed by The Prusik Group, BRP Companies, L+M Development Partners, and Taconic Partners, the 414-000-square-foot structure will yield 170 affordable housing units, 70,000 square feet of Class A office space, and 110,000 square feet of retail area including a Target and a 28,000-square-foot Trader Joe’s on the ground floor. The development will serve as the home for the National Urban League and the Urban Civil Rights Experience Museum. Congress Builders is the general contractor for the property, which is located between West 126th Street to the north, 125th Street to the south, Malcolm X Boulevard to the east, and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard to the west.
More of the façade has been installed on the southern elevation along West 125th Street since our last update in October 2022, particularly on the commercial podium, which is composed of floor-to-ceiling glass and dark metal paneling. The residential levels above are complete, clad in light gray brick surrounding a grid of varying width windows. King Contracting Group was in charge of installing the 100,000 square feet of interior and exterior CMU blocks, 40,000 square feet of bricks, and 50,000 square feet of EIFS panels. Work is also complete on the blank eastern and western elevations, as well as the rear northern profile facing West 126th Street where the loading docks are located.
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
The project was made possible by $110 million in state grants from Empire State Development and the Department of Housing and Community Renewal. The property is expected to be occupied by additional community groups including One Hundred Black Men of New York, United Negro College Fund New York, and the Harlem-based Jazzmobile. The nearest subways are the 2 and 3 trains at the 125th Street station at the corner of West 125th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard. The A, C, B, and D trains are also nearby to the west along St. Nicholas Avenue.
The Urban League Empowerment Center is projected to cost $242 million and is expected to finish construction by the end of the year.
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
The tower seems more interesting than the podium.
Hopefully the Target, Trader Joe’s, H&M will actually open with all the crime.
Huh? NYC is the safest major U.S. city, and crime is down a further 10% in 2023. The neighborhood already has Target, Trader Joe’s and H&M, BTW.
Manhattan’s first ever Target will be closing it’s doors on October 21 of this year. The location on East 117th Street, within the East River Plaza development sights rampant shoplifting and violence as safety concerns for it’s employees and the driving force behind it’s decision to shutter its retail operations.