5th on the Park, 1485 Fifth Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 1485 Fifth Avenue by Carter Horsley

Construction on this 28-story mixed-use development at the southeast corner of Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem began in 2007.

Designed by FxFowle Architects, this project, which is known as "5th on the Park," includes a 38,000-square foot church with a 1,800-seat sanctuary for the Bethel Gospel Assembly, and 26 residential floors with 47 church-owned, affordable rental apartments and 147 market-rate condominiums.

It was developed by Uptown Partners LLC, of which Eytan Benjamin is a partner, Artimus Construction Inc., and Phoenix Realty Group. They obtained a $115 million mortgage for the development of a building at 2 East 120th Street on the site of the Bethel Gospel Assembly property.

The site also has the addresses of 1481 Fifth Avenue and 1-7 East 119th Street and occupies the full block between 119th and 120th Streets and Fifth and Madison Avenues.

The project has a 117-car garage with 24-hour parking attendant.

Keith B. Rosenthal, president of the Phoenix Realty Group, said his company was "honored to be part of the Harlem housing renaissance with a high-profile development that includes both mixed-income and mixed-use at an important address - the meeting of Fifth Avenue and the park." "The project," he continued, "will provide support for the 125th Street retail corridor and is one of the best located mass transit-oriented buildings in the city, with proximity to both the East Side and West Side subway lines, as well as the Metro North commuter rail to Westchester and Connecticut."

The building has a setback at the sixth floor with a lap pool, landscaped garden, outdoor deck, fitness center and media room.

The condominiums have a doorman and 24-four concierge.

Phoenix Realty Group is a national real estate investment firm founded by J. Michael Fried, an attorney formerly with Proskauer Rose and a co-chair of the Affordable Housing Roundtable, Keith Rosenthal, formerly the founder and president of Lehman Housing Capital, the first tax credit syndication firm on Wall Street, and Ron Orgel, who was formerly with Lehrer, McGovern & Bovis, Inc. Artimus Construction Inc., is a development and construction company founded in 1979 that has completed 38 projects in the New York City area including 18 in Harlem. Uptown Partners LLC was founded in 2001 and is presently completed The Lenox, the largely market-rate development heretofore built in Harlem.

Bethel Gospel Assembly was founded in 1917 and the next year moved into a storefront at 116 Bradhurst Avenue. In 1923, it moved to 255 West 131st Street and in 1947 it moved again to 36-8 West 123rd treet and eventually it moved to the former James Fennimore Cooper Jr. High School at 2-26 East 120th Street.

The building site occupies the block between 119th and 120th Streets and Fifth and Madison Avenues and is across Fifth Avenue from the Marcus Garvey Park, which is also known as Mount Morris Park, in Harlem.

The church and the rental units will have entrances on 119th Street where the building has five setbacks.

The condominiums will have a 40-foot-high lobby with a mobile sculpture by Tim Prentice, a day and a evening doorman and a 24-four concierge. The building will also have bicycle storage and a community room. Apartments will have Brazilian cherry hardwood floors, Kitchenaid or GE Monogram kitchen appliances, vented washers/dryers and central air-conditioning.

A 573-square-foot studio apartment on the 10th floor is priced at $400,600. A one-bedroom apartment with 893 square feet on the 12th floor is priced at $648,300. A two-bedroom apartment with 1,296 square feet on the 12th floor is priced at $1,012,100. A two-bedroom unit on the 28th floor with 2,011 square feet and 1,360 square feet of exterior space and east, north and south exposures is priced at $2,342,500.