Harlem RBI breaks ground on 143K SF school and affordable development in East Harlem

Developer backed by Yankee first baseman Mark Teixeira ties up with Jonathan Rose on project

From left: Mark Teixeira and Jonathan Rose
From left: Mark Teixeira and Jonathan Rose

Harlem RBI, which is backed by New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, and the Jonathan Rose Cos. broke ground Thursday on the 143,000-square-foot East Harlem Center for Living and Learning, which will include a K-8 DREAM charter school and affordable housing, Crain’s reported. The $78.5 million project, located at East 104th Street between Second and Third avenues, will have 89 affordable units and 3,000 square feet of office space reserved for nonprofits.

The school is currently housed in A Public School On East 103rd Street, and since 2010 Harlem RBI has been courting the New York City Housing Authority for land suitable to build a new campus. NYCHA obliged, but the parcel of land was bigger than the 60,000 square feet needed for the school. Harlem RBI then brought Jonathan Rose in to develop the surplus. “It was really because of NYCHA’s inspiration that the project grew from a school project to a school and affordable housing project,” Rose told Crain’s.

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The project received $32.5 million from the U.S. Department of Education and the New York City School Construction Authority, contingent upon the developers raising $20 million. [Crain’s] —Hiten Samtani