Tahl, who lives with his wife and three children in two apartments that he combined on the top floor of 1851 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, doesn’t see it that way. “I like the idea of people of different backgrounds living in the same building,” he says. “I think that’s a more worthwhile way of providing affordable housing.”
He thinks the "good old days" are more myth than reality. “A lot of these buildings were absolutely horrible. Harlem was begging for private investment – going back to the 50s. I happen to think that Harlem is a healthier community than it has been. One reason for that is the amount of investment.”
Still, tenants and their advocates distrust Tahl-Propp’s professed commitment to the health of the neighborhood and the buildings. “Surely they’re not in the business of maintaining affordable housing permanently,” says Andrew Lehrer, supervising attorney of the Legal Aid Society’s Housing Development Unit, who represents the UPACA 7 tenants and has had meetings with other Tahl-Propp tenants. “They’re more interested in the money.”
That's a constant in real estate, of course – but it remains to be seen whether this new breed of buyers will make as much money, in the end, as they hoped.
