Street vendor Laheen Allah’s booth stands on 125th Street near St. Nicholas Avenue, in front of a series of boarded-up beauty supply outlets. Across the street are a T-Mobile, Old Navy, and Chase Bank.
“Locally owned?” Allah said. “We don’t own anything too much up here.”
Designed to promote retail, office, hotel, and residential development in Harlem, the 125th Street Rezoning Plan was approved in 2008 to encourage activity on the neighborhood’s main thoroughfare from 2nd Avenue to Broadway. The plan will promote development of over 80,000 square feet of new non-profit visual arts and entertainment space, according to the Department of City Planning, which is working with the NYC Economic Development Corporation to strengthen the corridor’s cultural and commercial presence.
But despite the goals of rezoning, some local businesses say they’re worried about their future as larger developers continue to buy up property and more chains move into the neighborhood.
Six months ago Manna’s Soul Food & Salad Bar, a neighborhood joint for decades at 125th Street and 8th Avenue, relocated to a cheaper space a few blocks away, since a company called Kimco Realty Corporation hopes to redevelop Manna’s original site.
Philip Bulgar, who has worked at Manna’s for 15 years, said that he considers himself lucky, since other businesses had to move out of the area entirely.
“When you uproot family businesses who have been the community two, three decades to replace with some chain restaurants or chain stores, it doesn’t work,” Bulgar said. “And these companies tend not to hire from the community. Even if they do, it’s minimum wage jobs or part-time jobs.”
“They don’t want anyone to conflict with this corporate idea of what they think 125th Street should be,” he said. Kimco representatives could not be reached for comment.
Some residents say they are worried that this kind of story may become common, with smaller businesses struggling to stay on 125th.
Moussa Conde, who has lived in Harlem for eight years, said he’s happy to back any initiative that can give Harlem “a new look and a new style of life.” But he added that he’s worried big developers will drive out local shops like the M&M Hair & Wigs shop where he works.
“If small businesses cannot be happy once the big developers come in, if they have to run away, I would be against any initiative,” he said.
But according to City Planning, the agency is not incentivizing new development in many areas within the zoning district, including frontages with smaller retailers. To help existing small and non-profit businesses relocate to 125th Street, the city has created financial assistance and loan forgiveness programs.
But Turgut Tamsen, who has owned a fruit stand on the corner of 125th and Frederick Douglass Boulevard for 10 years, is skeptical that he would be able to stay in the area.
“Any development is going to be run by the company, not by the people on the street—-they’re going to be taken advantage of,” he said.
A spokesperson from City Planning said development since the plan’s approval in 2008 has been slow due to the economy, but is already getting back on its feet. In the past year, there has been a flurry of new activity, including the planned redevelopment of Mart 125, an Applebee’s restaurant on 125th Street and Fifth Avenue, and the official opening of the Aloft Hotel at 123rd Street and Frederick Douglass next month. The rezoning is a long-term plan that will encourage growth over the next 10 years, a spokesperson said.
Still, Tamsen said that he is not sure that development down the road will support merchants like him. “I’m going to be out of work. Even now, I can’t afford to get an apartment around here.”
Daphne Chen contributed reporting.
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