Arts Initiative Prompts Excitement, Concerns About 125th Street's Future

An arts bonus initiative tied in with the proposal to rezone 125th Street has some community members optimistic about cultural expansion, while others worry that the program could bring trouble to the area.

The arts initiative is meant to “support the growth of 125th Street as a premier arts, cultural, and entertainment destination,” according to the New York City Planning Commission. It aims to draw in art galleries, book and music stores, music, dance and comedy clubs, dance halls, restaurants, historical exhibits, museums, and theaters.

The initiative would require developments of a certain size to incorporate some kind of artistic or cultural element. According to the New York City Planning Commission Web site, for every new development with 60,000 square feet or more of floor area, 5 percent of the total floor area would be reserved for arts and entertainment-related uses that would be accessible from 125th Street.

Lynette Velasco, special assistant to Councilwoman Inez Dickens, D-Harlem, said that Dickens was working closely with Community Board 10 to develop a cultural expansion plan that would be appropriate for the neighborhood.

“We would like this to remain a cultural destination,” Velasco said. “She [Dickens] would like it to be a cultural destination for all people, a port of call. Harlem has always been a welcoming port of call from everywhere because we embrace diversity.”

But Coalition to Preserve Community leader Tom DeMott expressed concern at the type of artistic development slated for Harlem. An active member of Voices of the Everyday People, he and his organization staunchly oppose the proposed arts bonus, saying that the area would become commercial rather than cultural.

“It seems to me that it is less directed from the artists from the community and more directed in terms of commercial viability,” DeMott said. “You’re looking at a complete failure to understand the community, to understand its history, and the tweaking of this particular item on the agenda will not get to the heart of this problem.”

The arts bonus would mostly benefit the 125th Street area being considered for rezoning, which falls under CB10. But Community Board 9 chair Pat Jones said that members of CB9 have lobbied to commercially rezone blocks stretching from Broadway to Amsterdam and Broadway to Tiemann Place, so as to benefit from the arts bonus. Currently, those blocks are zoned for residential development.

Jones said the community and city planning groups have been receptive to the idea of rezoning, and the board sees potential opportunity for arts-related development.

“If we get well-intended individuals who are creative, ... we should be able to come up with something that meets needs and overall meets goals,” Jones said.

Although the arts initiative would be bound up in the commercial zoning, she remained optimistic that it would encourage the expansion of cultural venues. According to Jones, the board is asking for a limitation to what she described as “bar-related activity” in the potential development to stave off troublesome activity and to focus the arts bonus on cultural and artistic promotion.

Alfred Preisser, the artistic director of the Classical Theatre of Harlem, also saw the initiative as a potentially positive force in the Harlem area.

“We are all trying to be hopeful that it will bring much-needed performing arts space to Harlem without forever changing the character of Harlem that made people want to work here in the first place,” Preisser said.

The Classical Theatre of Harlem, as well as the Jazz Museum in Harlem and Harlem Arts Alliance are planning to move into the redeveloped Victoria Theater on the Apollo block once it finishes renovation. The theater was declared a landmark and recently rezoned to allow renovation and reopening. Preisser said that he expects the Classical Theater of Harlem to move into the soon-to-be revamped Victoria within three to four years.

“The people who are alarmed that there might be too much luxury housing ... have a very good point. But I’m hopeful that the rezoning of certain projects on the 125th Street, like the Victoria Theater, will give them [residents] a place to work.”