Urban American Renovates The Heritage
The Spring 2010 edition of the Design, Develop, and Construct (DDC) Journal featured The Heritage at Schomburg Plaza, a thorough rehabilitation project in Harlem (http://www.ddcjournal.com/issues/spring2010/). The development consists of three buildings: two 35-story towers located at the intersection of 110th Street and 5th Avenue, and one 11-story, mixed-use building on Madison Avenue.
In the article, notable Cornell alumni Joshua Eisenberg, a principal of Urban American, explains how the buildings were modified in order to increase their focus on neighboring Central Park, and he went on to describe the challenges of renovating older buildings for the benefit of residents still living there.
Outside of the article, Eisenberg spoke with us about some of the challenges of transforming a housing “facility” into a much more elegant residence. “Our architects did a remarkable job to design a sleek, clean and more modern look while increasing the comfort, character and accessibility of the architecture,” said Eisenberg, “the result was dramatically different from what we started with.”
The surrounding neighborhood is rapidly changing, most notably due to the construction of a new building for the Museum of African Art across the street. This notable improvement is expected to have a significantly positive influence on the area and it was important to Urban American that the residents of The Heritage were directly connected to the improving neighborhood.
Urban American has a history of supporting Cornell and the Program in Real Estate, including being the Capstone Client for PRE student’s “Project Workshop” course. A real estate investment and management company, Urban American currently owns and operates approximately 13,000 workforce apartment units in the New York metropolitan area.
Clara Borrero (PRE ’10) worked at Urban American as an intern with leasing and asset management responsibilities. She summarized her experience by saying “I worked with many extremely helpful professionals, and was impressed with their efforts to provide reasonably-priced residences to New York City residents.”
Urban American’s mission is to invest in America’s workforce communities. Through its hands-on management style, they have established a track record of upgrading occupancy and increasing income through the rehabilitation of apartment buildings. Urban American’s central goal is to create the value necessary for long-term capital appreciation while providing a socially responsible and sustainable product for its communities.