In 1994, the Clinton administration's Empowerment Zone initiative placed a 10-year "Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone" designation on Harlem. The program is meant to revitalize suffering communities with public funds and tax incentives by inspiring private investors to commit to the area. The federal government committed $100 million, which was matched by the state and city, creating a $300-million pot.
In the six years since the designation, New York City as a whole has seen crime drop and lead the nation in job growth. In some areas of Harlem, NYPD numbers show crime has dropped 50%. While UMEZ and private investors, as well as other public fund sources, generated $68 million in the first year of the project alone, most developers and space seekers still did not consider Harlem in their searches. This is finally beginning to change.
As the real estate market tightened, the buzz focused on the shores of New Jersey for office and industrial properties and Brooklyn's housing rentals became trendy. Commercial and residential tenants alike are now, in growing numbers, seeing the proximity of Harlem and its distinctive buildings as too good to overlook.
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