Rendering of Hip Hop Hall of Fame Museum & Hotel/ Courtesy of Bluebox Entertainment
NEW YORK CITY—The Hip Hop Hall of Fame Museum & Hotel has signed a term sheet to acquire a building and development site in Central Harlem for the creation of the first hip hop complex in the country. A contract is anticipated to be signed and finalized with a closing in early spring. The developers are proposing a 20-story, 140,000 square-foot building including a Hall of Fame, TV studio, museum, gift shop, upscale hotel, residential apartments, retail, arcade, sports bar, restaurant and lounge where live events and concerts will be produced.
A person with knowledge of the deal tells GlobeSt.com the property that's currently privately owned is located at 51-55 E. 125th St., at the corner of Madison Ave. The source states that $20 million has been raised in financing and commitments, and the project organizers are seeking to raise another $15 million to close the acquisition, complete the design, to break ground in 2019 and to open in 2021 or 2022.
JT Thompson, the creator and executive producer of the Hip Hop Hall of Fame Awards “Induction Ceremony & Concert” TV show on BET in the 90s, is the founder and CEO of the enterprise.
“This is a multi-generational, once in a lifetime development project for hip hop music and cultural history as the Hip Hop Hall of Fame will be the first major hip hop development project, which will own its own land, control its own design and construction processes, adding minority hiring and job training programs,” says Thompson. He emphasizes people in the hip hop community with their major partners will own and operate the entire project, including all of the commercial and retail businesses in the building. This will include hip hop education, media, entertainment and management training. The project organizers say it will boost the local economy and create jobs.
The Hip Hop Hall of Fame and Museum is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, whose mission is to preserve, archive and showcase hip hop music and culture around the world. Its educational efforts will include research to document the music's impact on American pop culture and socio-economic structures. The organization plans to promote healthy, drug-free lifestyles and messages to young people noting hip hop's popularity and influence. In January 2018, a Billboard magazine article cited Nielsen Music which found R&B/hip hop as 2017's most popular genre, accounting for 24.5% of all music consumed.
Supporter of the Hip Hop Hall of Fame include a coalition of people in the hip hop world, artists, DJs, athletes and celebrities interested in giving back to the community, according to the source.
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Betsy Kim
Betsy Kim was the bureau chief, East Coast, and New York City reporter for Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. As a lawyer and journalist, Betsy has worked as the director of editorial and content for LexisNexis Lawyers.com, a TV/multi-media journalist for NBC and CBS affiliated TV stations in the Midwest, and an associate producer at Court TV.
