Hip Hop Hall of Fame Museum Wins Bid on Harlem Building & Development Site; Preps $150M Capital Campaign

NEW YORK, June 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hip Hop Television Channel is proud to announce that the Official Hip Hop Hall of Fame + Museum to the World has won its bid to acquire a major Harlem building and development site in this historical Arts and Cultural corridor of the World in New York City. Cleveland is home to the Rock Hall of Fame and Harlem will be the location for the Hip Hop Hall of Fame Headquarters. 

The Hip Hop Hall of Fame is Chartered non-profit 501 (c)3 Museum and Educational Institution whose mission is to Preserve, Archive, Exhibit, Educate, and Showcase Hip Hop Music & Culture from around the world. To also conduct Research and Studies documenting hip-hop's historical influence on American Pop Culture and its Socio-Economic Impact on Societies and Trends around the world.

The HHHOF development team anticipates completing the building acquisition process over the next few months, and is making pre-development preparations to move right into the redesigning of the building's exterior and interior infrastructure in the 'phase I' plan set to open in February 2018. 'The preliminary plan includes a ground floor themed HHHOF café, gallery, visitors bureau, and retail gift store with a second floor HHHOF museum, event space, offices, and multi-media studio for film and television content production in partnership with the HHHOF Arts & Media Youth Academy students that will be training for careers in tech and media, while producing real-life content for the museum, and the hip hop television channel network', stated JT Thompson the Creator and Executive Producer of the first ever Hip Hop Hall of Fame Awards TV show that aired on BET Network in the 1990s, and Founder of the Hip Hop Hall of Fame + Museum.

Phase II planning will include a full scale design and build development of the total site that could be approximately 20 stories high and include The Hip Hop Hall of Fame + Museum & Hotel Entertainment Complex design concept that features the Hall of Fame, Museum, 5 Star Hotel, Retail Mall & Gift Shop, Arcade, TV Studios, Sports Bar, Restaurant & Concert Lounge with a goal of serving up to 1,000,000 local, national, and international visitors annually including music fans, tourists, students, culture enthusiasts, and families on educational & entertainment excursion tours. The HHHOF envisions a state of the art 'Green Technology & Energy Conservation' Museum building project that will aggressively explore and utilize all of the available cost and energy saving technologies and mechanisms that are currently in the marketplace.

The HHHOF will also have an educational component to the program that enables 25,000 NYC public school children per year to visit the facility on field trips with museum tours, and see live assembly programs that feature the Official HHHOF Mascot DJ B-Boy Scratch & Friends doing PSA's, passing out Academic Awards, and gift bags for kids and youth in grades K-12.  The HHHOF facility will produce hundreds of permanent and part time jobs, and provide job training, valuable internships, and community volunteer opportunities, with a goal to host up to 100+ live events, shows, concerts, and educational programs annually for people of all ages.  It is estimated to contribute approximately a $350M socio-economic impact to New York City and the Tri-State region annually when phase II of the development is completed.

All of these elements increase the overall sustainability of the Museum project and ongoing operations with multiple attractions, and strategic investment partnerships on Hotel, Retail, Restaurant, Entertainment and Sponsorships.
The HHHOF Harlem building is well positioned in a high volume traffic corridor next to a major transportation through way where an estimated 15+ million tourists and commuters pass by and travel annually.  Tourism is expected to see a continual rise in New York City over the next 7-10 years, cited by a recent NYC Mayor's government report. The community of Harlem has a rich history of Arts and Cultural contributions from the Renaissance that influenced artists, poets, scholars, educators, politicians, fashion, entrepreneurs, entertainers and community leaders from New York City throughout the world. Hip Hop music and culture will now join that legacy in Harlem's New Renaissance with the Hip Hop Hall of Fame + Museum opening up its offices on the historic 125th Street.

Hip Hop music and culture today is a thriving social and economic marketplace encompassing music, film, sports, television, fashion, education, tech, and advertising. The HHHOF serves a very unique, diverse, and loyal targeted global audience that consist of youth demographics ages 12-34, and their families 25-55 who spend and influence approximately $1 Trillion dollars per year according to Russell Simmons advertising agency, on products, services, events, merchandise, and technology.

The Capital Campaign

The HHHOF to launch $150M Capital Fundraising Campaign to complete acquisition of the Harlem building and development site, Phase I Museum & Retail build-out for February 2018 opening, Memorabilia & Archive Development and Acquisitions, three years Operational Budgetary Funding, and full HHHOF Museum & Hotel Entertainment Complex pre-development activities for Phase II expansion, including new building Architectural Designs, Exhibits & Attractions Design and Construction, Building Tower Construction, Educational Programming, and Endowment Fund over the next 2-3 years.   

The Hip Hop Hall of Fame has been in ongoing conversations with prospective supporters in regards, to the Capital Campaign that will include support programs from Artists, Executives, Individuals, Foundations, Government Agencies, Private Investment Funds, and Corporate Partners & Brands whose expertise and contributions will help shape the project and bring its unique cultural identity to life on the world stage. HHHOF Team ito initiate the Capital Campaign Committee Planning Discussions with Industry Veteran Executives including MCA's Ernie Singleton, Giant Records Ms. Cassandra Mills, RCA's Kevin Evans, Sports Agent Aaron Goodwin, Sony's Demmette Guidry,  and more are being tapped to join an expanding group of Advisors, Committee Members, and Industry Relations professionals to be announced in the coming weeks that will include major Moguls, Artists, Pioneers, Executives, Entrepreneurs, and Influencers from all sectors of Business, Corporate, Finance, Education, Sports, Entertainment, Real Estate, The Arts, Community Leaders, Politics, and International Relations.

The HHHOF also envisions offering an array of Sponsorship and Naming Rights opportunities for National & International Corporate Brands, Products, Service Providers, and Facility Vendors. These once in a lifetime offers will include exclusive multi-year official category sponsorships and naming rights opportunities on-site throughout the facility to include the Themed Restaurant, Concert Lounges, Live Event Stages, Television Studios, Arcade, Community Rooms, Retail Gift Store, and Outdoor signage. Others envisioned will include the building Marquee, Full Floors, Exhibits, Displays, Commissioned works of Art, Live Events, Tours, Community & Educational Programs, Archive Preservation and Library.  The Hip Hop Hall of Fame will also utilize these in-kind partnership products, services, technology, appliances, and electronics in the daily operations of the facility, and incorporate them into the fabric of the museum & entertainment complex attractions and architecture reaching the most coveted advertiser demographics of hip hop, urban, and pop culture.

The Development Team

The development project managers Thompson International Professionals, JT Thompson, and Zubatkin & Associates Owner Representation's Andrew Bast, have begun discussions with major corporate partners including Live Event producers for HHHOF venue, and Hotel chains and Retail groups for potential management and operational partnerships, and with potential private investors and bankers.  Rounding out the development team includes Healy-Kohler Design the creative exhibit design and building consultant on the project led by Terrance Healy, Ms. Terrie Rouse of Rouse Consulting who has been serving as senior consultant advisor on the projects museum operations development, and Real Estate strategy and execution consultant on Harlem project is Ms. Shawna O. Menifee of Integrative Partners Inc., a M/WBE Certified of JLL.

The HHHOF is set to engage the The Switzer Group, Inc. interior architectural design firm, and Constructomics Construction firm for phase I of the Harlem site build-out project. The Switzer Group, Inc., is one of the nation's most progressive interior architectural design consulting firms since 1975. Today, The Switzer Group Inc. is the nation's largest black-owned interior architectural design firm and currently among the top 100 American design firms.  Constructomics is the largest MBE contractor in New York City. These HHHOF experienced and professional architectural, development, construction, and strategic investment partner(s) firms will work seamlessly with New York City and State Building & Development agencies, Hotel, Retail, and our Cultural Institutional partners on this historical development coming to the Manhattan skyline. We are seeking to ensure that local workers, vendors, suppliers, merchants, and MBE firms benefit from the building rehabilitation and future construction project in procurement and participation.

HHHOF Museum Exhibit Preservation Partners

The HHHOF Museum exhibits will offer important and unique documentation of hip-hop's development and its impact on social trends.  The Museum will enshrine hip-hop pioneers and legends in wax and through displays (memorabilia and collectibles are presently being gathered and catalogued). Exhibition objects will derive from the HHHOF archives and from other distinguished collections of our Hip Hop Archive & Preservation Alliance partner members, that include The Grammy Museum, The Cornell U's Hip Hop Collection, Harvard Hip Hop Archive, NYU Hip Hop Education Center, The Smithsonian Institute Museum, The NMAAH, LACMA, OMA, The 2Pac Center, The Michael Holman 'Graffiti Rock' Collection, University of Houston, NMAAM, The Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, and many more private collections. The goal of the visitor center is to broaden exposure, access, and education to the arts by sharing the diversity of authentic Hip Hop Music, Arts and Culture with children, families, fans, and the general public whose limited access to Hip Hop culture is through viewing videos via social media and hearing music on the radio, not an accurate representation of the true elements of Hip Hop culture. These exhibits will also tour schools, both nationally and internationally, that have programs and curricula that demonstrate how Hip Hop culture has significant contributions and social, educational, and economic impacts on the global scene.  As "rock-n-roll" was for baby boomers, Hip Hop is today's dominant youth culture worldwide.  

For more information and interested partnership firms, and sponsors can contact John Robinson or the HHHOF at [email protected]. All fans and potential interns & volunteers can follow us at Official website http://hiphophof.org, Facebook http://facebook.com/hiphophalloffame, Twitter http://twitter.com/hiphophof, Instagram http://instagram.com/hiphophalloffametv, Youtube http://youtube.com/hiphophalloffametv.

About The Hip Hop Hall of Fame Founder JT Thompson
The Hip Hop Hall of Fame was Established in 1992 by Founder J.T. Thompson, who created and executive produced the first HHHOF Awards TV Show on the BET Cable Network in the 1990's, as the first annual fundraising catalyst for the establishment of a Hip Hop Hall of Fame Museum in New York City; modeled after the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame Museum which produced 20 years of awards shows before eventually opening their Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. The Entrepreneur, Producer, and Community Advocate is a Brooklyn Born, Queens, Harlem, and Los Angeles raised Hip Hop Connoisseur, whose grand-uncle played with Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, and Benny Goodman, when African-Americans could not stay in or eat at the places they played, nor own their own music and publishing.  He is an Honorably Discharged US Army Veteran (NY Post http://nypost.com/2016/02/19/after-24-years-this-army-vet-is-making-the-hip-hop-hall-of-fame-a-reality/ ), and former College Basketball Scholarship Student Athlete and Free Agent Professional. He entered the business as a concert promoter and television producer, as a guest of former MCA/Universal artists Pebbles, and the R&B Group the Deele, that featured multi-Grammy Award winning artists/producers/record executives L.A. Reid & BabyFace. He was founder partner of the LA Gang Truce Alliance in 1992 during the LA Riots and led the private and public development partnerships with RLA that later became empowerment zones. He has worked independently in every facet of an entertainment company including Music, Film, Television, and Sports by creating, and producing shows & concerts, talent casting, PR, marketing, advertising sales, distribution, retail management, and is the architect of the Hip Hop Hall of Fame Museum & Entertainment Complex "Co-Branding" Business Strategy. His Development and Consulting Company Thompson International Professionals has different Real Estate projects in various stages of development. JT and the HHHOF has organized and participated in numerous events that included Jesse Jackson, NAACP, NCAA, HBCU's, Mayor Tom Bradley, President Bill Clinton, Rev DR. EV Hill, National Baptist Convention, Ecumenical Alliance, LA Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, Ice Cube, Ice T, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool Herc, Tyrese, Grandmaster Caz, Russell Simmons, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Master P, Sean Pdiddy Combs, Mark Pitts, Lil Kim, Baby Williams, Shaquille O'neal, Rakim, Biz Markie, SugarHill Gang, Roxanne Shante, Doug E Fresh, E-40, EPMD, YoYo, Eazy E, John Singleton, DJ Quik, Warren G, Kenny 'DJ Lord Yoda X' Syder, Rob Base, and many more.

SOURCE Hip Hop Television Channel