The Janus Property Company, in partnership with VHB Engineering is pleased to announce that the Taystee Lab Building in West Harlem has been selected as the 2023 Big Apple Brownfield Awardee for its significant benefit to local economic development through job creation.
“What an honor it is to receive this award,” said Jerry Salama, Principal of Janus Property Company, “and we are fortunate that the Taystee Lab Building has been truly transformative. It has completely revitalized the growing Manhattanville District, bridging Columbia University and City College with the world-famous 125th Street Arts and Culture Corridor. In doing so, jobs will continue to grow, local community members will become employed and the whole District and community will benefit.”
The Taystee Lab Building is a mixed-use project with 11 stories and 342,000 rentable square feet that
permits commercial, non-profit community facility, research labs, academic and manufacturing uses. It also serves as the center of a new economic development hub in a low-income minority community where jobs are of critical importance. Built on the site of a former bakery, which lay vacant for 40 years, the site was deemed unsafe. Through foreclosure, the NYC Economic Development Corp (EDC) acquired the Taystee property that was then awarded to Janus based on its plan to create a mixed-use commercial
building in the low-income community of West Harlem. The project team worked closely with the Community Board (CB9) to understand and implement the community’s highest priority: job creation.
The newly constructed, Class-A, LEED-certified building boasts spaces used for academic and research purposes, as well as community facility and commercial space. The building also contains a landscaped courtyard for use by tenants and community members. Each tenant will be asked to use good faith efforts to hire low-income residents, as it’s a leading center of academic and life science excellence, where the local community can obtain jobs supported by the expertise of institutions including Columbia and the City College of New York (CCNY).
About the Janus Property Company
The Janus Property Company is a developer, long-term owner and manager of life science, commercial, mixed-use and residential properties in New York City, with a current primary focus on the creative redevelopment of the Manhattanville Factory District in West Harlem. Since 1989, Janus has consistently undertaken important and complex community development projects, creating enduring value for its. tenants, partners, lenders and the greater New York City community. It specializes in understanding the numerous issues involved in developing and managing real property in New York. This has resulted in an impressive array of successful projects ranging from the extensive rehabilitation and new construction of market rate and affordable rental and condominium housing to mixed-use projects, small and large-scale life science properties and master-planned neighborhood development. Janus is headquartered in the Manhattanville Factory District.
