New York City will house the first civil rights museum on 125th St.
View sketches of the new project here.
The new development, which is set to start in 2015, will be called the Urban League Empowerment Center and is budgeted at $225 million. It will include a 400,000-square-foot complex with affordable housing and retail stores. It will also house a brand new national headquarters for the National Urban League, reported the Daily News.
Gov. Cuomo and Mayor Bloomberg revealed the Urban League's plans to partner with BRP Development Corp. and Hudson Cos., some of the country's top real estate firms, on Feb. 22.
The center's two-level "Museum of the Urban Civil Rights Experience," will span 30,000 square-feet and tell the history of the civil rights movement.
The project is expected to be completed in 2017 and relocate the Urban League from its current headquarters at 120 Wall St.
A 19-storey tower with 114 rental units is going to replace a massive parking garage that houses 450 cars between Lenox Ave. and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. according to Daily News.
"It's a game-changer that will transform the landscape of 125th St.," said Charles Hamilton, the independent counsel for the Urban League, in an interview with Daily News. "It's already the second-most trafficked area in the city next to Times Square - and this will make it an even greater economic mecca."
The development is one the City Hall and capital hope to spark an influx of construction and housing projects to attract tourists and aid the recovery economy with jobs.
The Urban League Empowerment Center is expected to create 750 temporary construction jobs and nearly 350 permanent jobs.