One45 Harlem residential project, after controversy and delays, is showing signs of life

The massive proposed One45 Harlem residential development project — stuck in limbo for years amid controversy and community pushback — is showing signs of life.

On the political front, new local Council member Yusef Salaam took office at the start of the year. His predecessor effectively stopped the project, but Salaam has indicated that he supports housing being built on the site.

At the same time, renewed efforts in Albany to replace a construction tax break mean financing One45 could soon be feasible.

Movement on the site itself — at W. 145th St. and Malcolm X Blvd. — is perhaps the most telling indicator of all. For the past several months developer Bruce Teitelbaum and his team have been working with a mosque that’s been on the property for over a decade to relocate within Harlem.

Leaders from the Timbuktu Islamic Center attribute the pending move, at least in part, to a need for more room and a desire to own their own space. Teitelbaum’s One45 Lenox LLC owns the lot the mosque sits on — the same lot it would have to clear to make way for One45.

A controversial history

One45’s public battle dates back to 2021. Teitelbaum — a real estate developer and one-time chief of staff for Mayor Rudy Giuliani — needed to rezone the property before he could build the proposed pair of towers. But One45 immediately met with community backlash and gentrification concerns.

The most vocal opponent was local Democratic councilmember Kristin Richardson Jordan, who wanted it to be 100% affordable and whose role essentially dictated whether the rezoning lived or died. One45 ultimately fell apart in 2022 in the face of Richardson Jordan’s affordability hardline.

Teitelbaum debuted a tweaked version to the local community board last year. It featured three buildings: 915 apartments with 50% affordable, up from 866 apartments with 30% affordable, with a new eight-story building for senior and supportive housing.

Teitelbaum is keeping mum about the status of those plans but remains determined, he told the Daily News.

“It is going to take a full court press, the help of city leaders, a lot of hard work and some luck to build 1,000 desperately needed homes in Harlem,” he said. “But that remains our goal.”

The block itself is a stone’s throw from the 145th Street Bridge, with Yankee Stadium visible just across the river. There are several squat shops and a large truck depot Teitelbaum launched a year ago amid protests. In May, a food pantry and community resource center opened in an old storefront on the One45 lot that serves hundreds of people daily, including many recently-arrived migrants.

Adama Bah, an activist and organizer who runs the center, said she was grateful to Teitelbaum for essentially giving them free room and electricity.

“I’ve had people [tell me], ‘Oh, he’s just using you because you’re Black,'” she said. “And I’m like, ‘Well, I’m using him too, because I need a free space!'”

She declined to comment on the future of the center and what might happen if One45 goes forward. But before it opened, Teitelbaum told The News it would stay “at least until a final decision is made about how the entire site will be developed.”

Mosque making moves

A mosque located in one of the buildings owned by Teitelbaum is in the process of moving, amid talk of One45 potentially getting back on track.

Some of the migrants who visit the resource center also pray at the Timbuktu Islamic Center, which opened in 2011 and serves hundreds of worshippers from across the city. Many come from West Africa, including Mali, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.

Teitelbaum and several associates are lending the mosque money to purchase their own building a 15-minute walk west on 145th Street. Timbuktu signed a $1.15 million deed and $500,000 mortgage for it last June, per city records. One of the mosque’s leaders, Kane Mamadou, said they hope to move in this spring, around Ramadan.

He said they asked for help finding their own place because they want to stop renting, but couldn’t find anywhere affordable or anyone to loan them the money. Space is also an issue at their current home, where worshippers sometimes spill onto the sidewalk during prayers.

“We can afford to pay with their help,” Mamadou said of Teitelbaum and colleague Steven Neuman during a recent visit. “We really appreciate it.”

“If we didn’t buy the place, sooner or later we would have to go regardless,” he said, stressing that they weren’t forced out. “I’m just not happy because the place [we have now] is a good place, we’re going to miss it.”

A political shift

Richardson Jordan’s Council successor, Yusef Salaam, has indicated he’s more open to discussing the project. His support would be crucial if or when Teitelbaum tries to go through a new rezoning.

Both the mayor and governor have stressed the need to build amid the city’s housing crisis. The state legislature is also taking another crack at replacing 421-a, an expired construction tax break described as crucial for building affordable housing like One45.

“I am in regular contact with Yusuf and his senior staff so my expectation is that we will have something encouraging to announce soon after the start of the new year,” Teitelbaum told The News. “But with no 421-a, skyrocketing costs and dizzying interest rates, the challenges are practically insurmountable.”