Harlem is known for The Apollo. It is considered to be the jazz capitol of the world. Harlem is where the Renaissance. A lot of the music art and writing during the Renaissance took place in Harlem. In Harlem there are many new buildings being built. Columbia University announced that it has obtained a site within the community that they will develop into affordable replacement units for tenants in the Tenant Interim Lease program. This is a nice opportunity for tenants in the TIL program because they get live in nicer apartments but dont have to pay anything extra.
The site will be a 42 unit elevator building and it will have 27 units for the TIL tenants. In addition to the 27 TIL units it will also have 11 replacement units for the vacant apartments in the TIL properties. There will also be a 10 percent increase of total affordable units. The vacant units in the new building will be made new and affordable for the TIL tenants. A not-for-profit developer will be identified to build the new apartment building. Columbia will cooperate with the tenant associations to ensure that tenants obtain all the same homeownership rights and benefits of the TIL program.
"The Bloomberg Administration has made affordable housing one of its highest priorities for New York's future," said HPD Commissioner Shaun Donovan. "With this site, Columbia will make new, affordable homes available to these Manhattanville residents even sooner than we would have otherwise and, by adding new units, takes an important step towards ensuring that the University's long-term growth is a win-win for all parties concerned."
Many people are hoping that more of the high rises going up in Harlem will be affordable and not over priced because they are luxury buildings.
On the other hand there is a brownstone located on West 134th Street between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard that a man named Craig Charie paid $750,000 for and is trying to sell for as much as $1.6 million. The brownstone isn't even repaired or new. It seems very old and damaged. The paint is chipping from the outside and doesn't look presentable at all. Its not very appealing for such a high asking price.
An even more controversial project in the planning stages is a green building for ex- prisoners. It is slated to be a 42 million dollar project that will be expanding around the city. The 110-unit project, at 625 West 140th Street, will split its units between formerly incarcerated homeless people and moderate-income families. The features the building will offer: free Wi-Fi, roof gardens that will channel rain water, and aluminum solar shades for temperature control. Planners say it will be ready by mid-2010. The development is run by an organization called fortune society which helps ex convicts stay on the right track. Their familes may also live here. 
Monthly rents for a studio in the new "green" building will range from $624 to $976, while a three-bedroom will range from $930 to $1,127. Money for the project came from a combination of city, state, nonprofit and corporate foundations including the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, Enterprise Green Communities and Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation. Unlike other associations The Fortune Society project is part of a push of green moderately priced housing in neighborhoods across the city and nationwide.
According to experts, environmentally friendly moderate-priced housing projects were slow to take off because of cost concerns. Now, it is said to be that green buildings are only 1 percent more expensive than non-green buildings.
Dacia has been with Harlem Live since July of 2008. Dacia has taken the role of leader of her team and acted the part as she leads her team successfully winning three presentation challenges. 
