Led by Paradise Express Ferry, New York City’s only Black-owned, Harlem-based commercial maritime operator, the goal of the Harlem Gateway Waterfront Initiative is to create a dynamic economic development engine that will mitigate the higher unemployment rates and negative health outcomes experienced in a historic African American community.

The program comes to life through a series of scalable waterfront developments and attractions designed to draw thousands of local visitors from communities across the Hudson River, such as Edgewater, Fort Lee, Hoboken, and other parts of New York City and the Tri-State Area.

This will serve as an entry point into Harlem and its famed 125th Street, which includes Columbia University’s new $6 billion Manhattanville campus, the world-famous Apollo Theater, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and connects with famous local restaurants such as Sylvia’s, Melba’s, and Red Rooster, as well as popular national franchises such as Olive Garden and Red Lobster.

The Harlem Gateway Waterfront Initiative will stimulate local spending, create hundreds of direct and indirect jobs in the maritime, entertainment, and related sectors in the community, and encourage business growth along the waterfront. This will generate much needed tax revenue for New York City, and revitalize a community hard-hit by systemic inequities laid bare by the pandemic.