The sounds, sights, and smells of Convent Avenue—a soprano’s melody echoing from a 4-story brownstone, a bus depot polluting the air, flags of the laundromat’s grand opening—fill a street of Harlem resistant to change.
On this avenue is a persistent 75,000 square feet of unused warehouse space on 129th Avenue and the corner of Convent Avenue, creating nearly an entire block of vacancy in the midst of a depot, a few brownstones, and a theatrical props storage house.
“We certainly understand the value of this neighborhood and the way it is changing with the Columbia expansion,” said Jeff Harvey, vice president and director of operations at Ark Investment Partners/Willow Hotels, the owner of the vacant property.
Ark Partners bought the space in 2006 and was its lender prior to that. Three years later, no leases have been signed, and they continue to use the property for their own storage.
Harvey said, “we are keeping our options open,” citing a “wide range of interest,” since they put the space on the market. He added, though, that “nothing substantive” has come from conversations with potential tenants.
Harvey said that the lack of a retail tenant was not particularly burdensome financially, adding that he predicts the space will become much more valuable further down the road.
Residents who have spent their whole life in this area say that the possibility of something new moving into this space—often called an eyesore—is exciting, but doubtful.
“It is a blight. What it is doing is not helping the community culturally or economically,” said Francis Clark, a neighborhood resident since 1972. “It does nothing. All it does is contribute to the general depression people have around here.”
Judge William Landers, who works across the street from this space at the St. Convent Court and who has lived in this area more than 70 years, shared this grim outlook.
Speaking of a new sign advertising this “prime” retail, he said, “It don’t mean nothing. Take the goddamn building down and build some homes, a place for the homeless to live.”
Harvey said that they are still “open to exploring options,” such as housing, though their advertising has primarily targeted retail development.
Derrick Haynes who grew up around the corner and founded Haynes Venture Group, Inc., a private financing company, said he has always wanted to transform this space to make room for a youth program.
“We need a place for homeless kids that have aged out of the system,” he said. “Now it is not being used for all.” Haynes added that this type of underutilized space was symptomatic of larger trends in West Harlem. “There are a lot of empty spaces all around here,” he said.
Concerning interest in the community, Harvey said, “we haven’t really had those calls.”
Harvey also said he was optimistic about development in Harlem. “To have a building of that size with the available square footage in an accessible area ... makes it something still very desirable.”
Hector Rios, who moved in two years ago, said that he would like to see a community space, but feared that the only economically viable option would be financially hurtful to the majority of the neighborhood.
“In a weird way, I would almost want to keep it as it is,” Rios said. “Whatever they could put in this space would not be good for the people who actually live here,” adding his concerns that new businesses would likely cater to students and an increasingly gentrified population rather than the long-time locals.
James Terrell, a resident for 52 years, said that this street’s evolution has been very slow over the last half century. He described the area as relatively safe, but said he fears that this continued vacancy will “open the doors to violent activity.”
Terrell reminisced on the different uses of the empty space—storage, warehouse, flea markets, and now, nothing. He agreed with most locals that community-oriented activity would best suit this area he calls home, but he also expressed fears of any development that would encourage further gentrification. “This really is a beautiful neighborhood, and I would hate to see people displaced.”
