Harlem Whole Foods pushes up apartment rents: brokers

Kale could be a rent killer for long-term residents of Central Harlem. A Whole Foods grocery store set to open in at 100 West 125th Street later this year could cause apartment rents in the neighborhood to spike.

“There’s a one-bedroom two blocks away for $1,800,” Citi Habitats [TRDataCustom] broker Chyann Sapp told the New York Post. “And the owner said that once Whole Foods opens he thinks he could easily get $2,000, $2,100 for it.” And John McGuinness, president of Harlem Properties, said the store has been pushing up rents since it was first announced in 2012.

In a January study, listing site Zillow found that apartments within a mile of a Whole Foods store appreciate 4.5 percent faster on average than those further away.

Whole Foods will anchor a six-story building at 100 West 125th Street, on the corner of Malcolm X Boulevard, developed by Jeff Sutton.

“This is the biggest game changer for Harlem that we have seen in a very long time,” said Douglas Elliman’s Faith Hope Consolo. Others voiced concerns about gentrification. “Communities can see this as a signal,” Rachel Meltzer, an assistant professor of urban policy at the New School, told the Post. “‘Whole Foods is here now, I am really losing my neighborhood.’” [NYP] – Konrad Putzier