After years of little-to-no retail activity—Spirit Halloween, we hardly knew ye—the lobby of the former Hamilton Theater at 3560 Broadway has been divided into two storefronts and is now undergoing renovations.
Spectrum is coming to the north space, but the larger property on the corner of W 146th Street still has a For Lease sign out front—and a nicely preserved old "Hamilton" mosaic near the main entrance.
Once a place for vaudeville, the impressive building was designed by theater architect Thomas Lamb in 1913. Its exterior, complete with 18 cast-iron caryatids, was designated a landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2000.
Yesterday a question on The Curious Uptowner's Instagram account and stories asked, "What would you like to see there?" Here are your answers (first initials have been used in the interest of privacy):
• Art gallery and/or community work space.–M
• Anything but a nail salon, fast food restaurant, liquor/wine store (although I do love my cocktails, but we have enough), coffee shop, phone store. Something productive pleeeeese!–A
• Not Spectrum.–R
• Community center! We are overdue for one!–S
• Black/Hispanic-owned business! Center to hold seminars for financial literacy, hold job fairs, etc.–S
• No chain stores! No cellular, no beauty, no 99¢. A food hall type biz with multi-concept casual restaurants, at least one that's open early/late.–J
• The Harlem Pop-Up Collective!–S
• Artisanal gelato for the masses.–L
• A neighborhood bookstore!–N
• This is a tough call! I want to see something good in the space and I want a lot of architectural details kept. BUT I also don't want a big box store or some business that takes away from the neighborhood.–P
• Besides them restoring the actual theater, that is?–C
• Movies, theatrical performances, anything but a Chase bank and/or Starbucks!–C
Time will tell if community dreams and real estate reality will meet. Stay tuned.
