Imagination - For All

Friday, 10 Jan 2014 03:07 PM
Continuum Company's 32-story East Harlem Towers from dnainfo.com

Developer, Ian Bruce Eichner, is bringing SyFy’s slogan, “Imagine Greater” to life in Harlem. Recent designs from Community Board 11 depict two futuristic buildings which look like they could have been featured in a Sy-Fy movie. Eichner’s plan is to introduce two 32-story (320 feet) residential towers at 1800 Park Avenue; upon completion they will be Harlem’s tallest.

Eichner is not the only one imagining greater things, Community Board 11 members are fighting for a greater amount of affordable housing. The blueprint initially included the 80/20 plan. The building is set to offer roughly 600 units, which means about 200 of them would be marked as affordable housing.  However, things have changed and now Eichner's Continuum Company is only promising up to 70 units in one of the two residential buildings.

With this new information, sparks are flying between Community Board 11 members and Eichner’s Continuum Company. William Wallace IV, senior finance and acquisitions officer - Continuum Company, released a rather annoyed statement suggesting that the reason for the small amount of affordable housing was due to the not-so-small property price tag which still needs financing.

The first tower has a projected completion date of 2017 – until then grab a soda and popcorn and stay tuned for more news regarding the 1800 Park Avenue project.