By Chris Richburg
1520 Sedgwick Avenue, long considered an important site in the creation
of Hip-Hop, is officially eligible to be recognized as landmark by the
State of New York.
Organizers will hold a a press conference on Monday (July 23) announcing
that the New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Historic
Preservation approved an application on July 2 to make the location
eligible to be considered a historic landmark.
The office stated that 1520 Sedgwick Avenue "meets the eligibility
criteria being that it is associated with events that have made a
significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history."
As a result, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue will be eligible to be designated as a
national historic landmark by the State and National Register of
Historic Places.
"1520 Sedgwick is the Bethlehem of Hip-Hop culture," Hip-Hop's founding
father Kool Herc told AllHipHop.com.
The press conference is scheduled to take place at 9:30 a.m. in front of
1520 Sedgwick in the South Bronx.
In addition to celebrating 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, the event will
recognize rap pioneer, DJ Kool Herc, who was recently labeled "the
innovator of Hip-Hop" by Time Magazine.
Despite the triumph of the honoring, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue is in danger
of being bought out of its affordability program by its owners, BSR
Management.
According to organizers of the press conference, BSR plans on selling
the famous building to a private-equity investor.
1520 Sedgwick, a Mitchell-Lama development is home to hundreds of
low-income residents.
Tenants of the building were notified that BSR
plans to buy-out in February 2008.