Birthplace of Hip Hop, 1520 Sedgwick Ave., Bronx, Given New Life

The building often cited as the “Birthplace of Hip Hop,” 1520 Sedgwick Ave. in the Bronx, was able to sell it’s mortgage with the help of city agencies to new owners, WinnResidential and Workforce Housing Advisors, who have pledged to greatly improve the conditions of the building, which have gone downhill in recent years.

DJ Kool Herc’s parties in the early 1970s that started in the rec room of the building are widely recognized as the breeding ground for hip hop music and culture. Herc is quoted by the NY Times as saying, “a great moment for 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. This is a historic site. This is where hip hop comes from.”

Tenants of the building have been fighting for years against deteriorating conditions and the threat of foreclosure and eviction, ever since the city failed in blocking its sale to prior owners in 2008, a real estate group that included Mark Karasick, a prominent real estate investor, who then failed to maintain the property and was trying to sell the building off after the real estate bubble burst.

During those times, affordable housing advocates were fearful the owners would remove the building’s affordable housing status, charge high rents, and force out the largely working-class tenants in an effort to “flip” the property, in what was being called a prime example of the affordable housing issues facing New York City.