Efforts to save the birthplace of Hip-Hop culture proved successful as the New York Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) rejected a proposed sale of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue to a developer Mark Karasick.
According to Sen. Charles Schumer, the HPD cited the fact that current rents could not be sustained if the sale of the property had gone through.
The decision is the latest chapter in the struggle for Sedgwick Avenue tenants to preserve their building.
Tenants enlisted Hip-Hop co-founder DJ Kool Herc last year to help save the property after word got out that the 100-unit apartment building’s owner planned to leave an affordable housing program known as Mitchell-Lama.
The Mitchell-Lama program presents owners incentives that include low-rate mortgages and tax breaks in exchange for charging tenants low to moderate rents over a certain period of time.
With the HPD’s decision, tenants have the chance to negotiate directly with the owner, Schumer stated Monday (March 3).
The building has also been deemed eligible to be listed on national and state registers of historic sites.