From its founding 25 years ago, Harlem-based non-profit Brotherhood/Sister Sol (“Bro/Sis”) has provided young people with educational programming, support services, and mentorship from a brownstone on 143rd Street. It has outgrown its original headquarters, and a new, six-story center is taking shape adjacent to the group’s original community garden.
Groundbreaking ceremony photo via Brotherhood/Sister Sol
“In the same way there are wonderful beautiful buildings for business and for real estate, so should there be for young people and education” - Khary Lazarre-White, Executive Director & Co-Founder, Brotherhood/Sister Sol
Described as “a state-of-the-art green building,” the new headquarters is being managed by Gilbane Building Company. Designer Urban Architectural Initiatives incorporates artifacts from the original brownstone into a new center designed to create upward visual movement and to make the most of natural light. Permits call for several instructional spaces, a dining hall and kitchen, a greenhouse, a teen lounge, a library, an art room, an exercise area with changing rooms, and a rooftop play area.
However, the project is also notable for what it doesn’t contain: With no housing or retail component, it is Harlem’s only building entirely for community educational use. A groundbreaking ceremony took place in October 2018; and, as the project is listed as “Approved Work” on a map of essential construction sites, it may still achieve its goal of opening in the fall.
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Bro/Sis’s new headquarters are taking shape in the midst of an Upper Manhattan building boom that goes well beyond residential and commercial. Not only have new schools taken shape throughout Harlem, but the city announced a $15.5 million initiative to nearly triple the size of Montefiore Square last fall. At the time, people were excited that the expanded plaza space would provide more room for festivals, performances, and greenmarkets. But in the age of social distancing, we are aware that it would also open up more space for pedestrians.
Rendering of Montefiore Square via New York City Department of Environmental Protection
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