Long-Vacant Harlem Lot To Become 52-Unit Apartment Building

HARLEM, NY — A Harlem street corner that has sat empty for years will soon be redeveloped into an eight-story apartment building, according to new plans filed with the city.

The 89,000-square-foot lot at the corner of Frederick Douglass Boulevard and West 132nd Street has been vacant since at least 2008, and likely longer, based on Google Maps imagery. Until around 2016, it served as a parking lot, but has been completely empty since then, becoming overgrown with weeds and fenced off on all sides.

Now, plans submitted Wednesday call for an 85-foot-tall building to be built on the site, with an address of 282 West 132nd St. It would include 52 apartments with an average size of about 1,500 square feet, as well as 8,400 square feet of commercial space.

The listed owner is Michel Perle. City records show the site was most recently purchased in 2015 for $14.9 million by Shaul Kopelowitz of the firm Hillcrest Management, but it is unclear if the property has changed hands since then.

The new building will be designed by Fischer + Makooi Architects, a Midtown-based firm that has built other apartment buildings around the city — including 306 West 116th St. in Harlem.