The Harlem Community Development Corporation announced yesterday that it has conditionally designated Danforth Development Partners LLC as the preferred developer to transform the Victoria Theater at 233 West 125th Street into a 317,5709-square-foot, mixed-use complex.
The plan calls for a 40,500-square-foot cultural arts condominium, a hotel with 170 to 200 rooms and 91 residential condominiums. The arts center will include a 199-seat theater to be used primarily by the Classical Theater of Harlem, a 99-seat theater for the primary use of the Harlem Arts Alliance, 10,150 square feet for the primary use of the Jazz Museum of Harlem, and 4,000 square feet of office space for the primary use of the Apollo Theater.
The project will restore the facade of the Victoria Theater that was shuttered more than a decade ago and it is expected to generate more than 1,000 construction-related jobs and 326 permanent jobs.
Danforth has agreed to contractually bind its construction contractors and sub-contractors to specific obligations to promote equal opportunity for all workers and to hire a construction workforce monitor to ensure those goals are being met. It will also identify and develop two or more curbside vendors to provide retail services within the New Victoria Center and it pledged to work with the Harlem Community Development Corporation to identify an affordable housing site at a location near the center and to seek financing for that project.
Danforth Development is headed by M. Steven C. Williams and the architectural team for the project includes Ms. Alexa Donaphin. Both are Harlem residents. Danforth's other projects include commercial buildings at 215 West 125th Street and 55 West 125th Street.
The Victoria was formerly the Loew's Victoria Theater and is located close to the Apollo Theater. The movie palace was converted to a five-screen multiplex theater in 1987 but it subsequently closed.
In 2005, the Empire State Development Corporation got seven proposals to redevelop the 2,394-seat theater that was designed by Thomas W. Lamb in 1917. Among the proposals were plans by Apollo Real Estate Advisers and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwife, Victoria Tower Development and B. B. King Entertainment Center, Thor Equities and the Bottom Line Club.
The plan calls for a 40,500-square-foot cultural arts condominium, a hotel with 170 to 200 rooms and 91 residential condominiums. The arts center will include a 199-seat theater to be used primarily by the Classical Theater of Harlem, a 99-seat theater for the primary use of the Harlem Arts Alliance, 10,150 square feet for the primary use of the Jazz Museum of Harlem, and 4,000 square feet of office space for the primary use of the Apollo Theater.
The project will restore the facade of the Victoria Theater that was shuttered more than a decade ago and it is expected to generate more than 1,000 construction-related jobs and 326 permanent jobs.
Danforth has agreed to contractually bind its construction contractors and sub-contractors to specific obligations to promote equal opportunity for all workers and to hire a construction workforce monitor to ensure those goals are being met. It will also identify and develop two or more curbside vendors to provide retail services within the New Victoria Center and it pledged to work with the Harlem Community Development Corporation to identify an affordable housing site at a location near the center and to seek financing for that project.
Danforth Development is headed by M. Steven C. Williams and the architectural team for the project includes Ms. Alexa Donaphin. Both are Harlem residents. Danforth's other projects include commercial buildings at 215 West 125th Street and 55 West 125th Street.
The Victoria was formerly the Loew's Victoria Theater and is located close to the Apollo Theater. The movie palace was converted to a five-screen multiplex theater in 1987 but it subsequently closed.
In 2005, the Empire State Development Corporation got seven proposals to redevelop the 2,394-seat theater that was designed by Thomas W. Lamb in 1917. Among the proposals were plans by Apollo Real Estate Advisers and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwife, Victoria Tower Development and B. B. King Entertainment Center, Thor Equities and the Bottom Line Club.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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