EDC sees great interest in Harlem gas station site

Officials from New York’s Economic Development Corporation told residents from the North Star Neighborhood Association yesterday that there is plentiful interest in Redeveloping The Bp Gas Station Site On 110th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, DNAinfo reported.

The EDC sought proposals in June to build on the 13,500-square-foot space at 2040 Frederick Douglass Boulevard. “We think we got a very robust response showing there is interest in developing the site,” Scott Solish, vice president of real estate for the EDC, said.

The EDC believes the space can be developed into 85,000 square feet of residential, community and retail space. The residential space, DNAinfo said, could be rental or ownership and include affordable and market-rate units.

Solish said the EDC is looking for the project to have “iconic architecture” and to take advantage of the adjacent Frederick Douglass circle, DNAinfo reported.

Dianne Pobuda, head of Friends of Frederick Douglass Circle, meanwhile, said that the group wants to make sure that whatever is built “blends in with the circle.”

Don Peebles of the Peebles Corporation previously expressed his interest in redeveloping the space, the The Real Deal reported.

Meanwhile, Carmie Elmore, the owner of the BP gas station that currently sits at the site, filed a suit against the city in August to block the EDC from developing the property, as previously reported. [DNAinfo]