THE HARLEM OPPORTUNITY

The Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, which began in 1994, was the spark that lit the fire. It has financed 152 initiatives with $134MM invested directly and leveraged a total $695MM in total investment.

Once former President Bill Clinton moved in, non-profits and social services organizations quickly clustered around his offices.

This absorbed much of the neighborhood’s 3.4MM square feet of commercial space and quickly drove a doubling of rents to the $35 per square foot range in 2004.

Key Harlem redevelopments:

• April 1999 - Pathmark 125th St. & Lexington Avenue.
• May 1999 – First Starbucks opens on 125th Street.
• May 2000 - European American Bank opens the first new bank in central Harlem in 20 years.

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