Renaissance Plaza opens with Harlem celebration. (Transcripts).

The opening of Renaissance Plaza, the largest mixed-use development to be built in Harlem in 20 years, was celebrated in a ribbon-cuffing ceremony by its new residents, commercial tenants. and members of the unique public/private partnership that produced it. The $63 million development is located at the corner of West 116th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard and contains 241 cooperative apartments and more than 60,000 SF of retail space.

Renaissance Plaza, complete with a landscaped interior courtyard, community and laundry rooms and an attended 200-car parking garage, sits on what was city-owned vacant land now transformed through the innovative ANCHOR (Alliance for Neighborhood Commerce, Homeownership and Revitalization) Program administered by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and the NYC Housing Partnership. The ANCHOR Program integrates the rebuilding of commercial corridors with the development of homeownership housing using public funds to leverage private financing and spur local economic development.

Commercial tenants in Renaissance Plaza include CVS, Petland Discounts, Ashley Stewart women's apparel, Carver Savings Bank, and a Pioneer supermarket. The cooperative units were sold to purchasers whose gross incomes were between $25,488 and $140,500.

Major funding for Renaissance Plaza was provided by the NYC Housing Development Corporation through its New Housing Opportunity Program (New HOP), the Empire State Development Corporation through the New York State Metropolitan Economic Revitalization Fund, the NYC Retirement Fund, the NYC Investment Fund and a syndicate of lending institutions led by JP Morgan Chase Bank, whose members included Deutsche Bank, Dime Savings Bank, Citibank, Fleet Bank and North Fork Savings Bank. Loan guarantees will be provided by the New York State Mortgage Agency and the Federal Section 108 Guarantee Program. The project was sponsored locally by the Malcolm Shabazz Development Corporation.

"We are proud to celebrate the success of Renaissance Plaza and proud to be a part of the overall Harlem renaissance," said Housing Partnership President George Armstrong. "This development shows how public/private partnerships can successfully revitalize neighborhoods, provide housing and stimulate economic development and business activity in our communities."

Approximately 4,000 applications were received for the one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in Renaissance Plaza. Units ranging in size from 750 to 1,420 SF are priced from $4,534 to $15,394 with monthly maintenance changes of $794 to $2,696.

Tenant shareholders have already begun moving into Renaissance Plaza Full residential occupancy in the building is expected by December. Many of the retail tenants are already operational and the remaining businesses should be open by the end of the year.