Community leaders of El Barrio are furious about a plan to create an enormous commercial center, apartments and a parking lot for thousands of cars on 125th Street.

The project is being pushed as fast as possible by the City’s Economic Development Corporation, community leaders said, without sufficient notification to the community and without evaluating the implications for traffic, cost of rents and the scope of the construction.

The complex, named Uptown New York, covering four entire blocks (2,170,000 square feet) is from 125th Street to 127th Street and from 2nd Avenue to 3rd Avenue.

“It’s just like they’re putting the stadium in El Barrio without saying a word,” said Henry Calderón, of the East Harlem Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, referring to the stadium for the Jets.

“The Community Board is very worried about this, and we are too,” said Geoffrey Eaton, of Council Member Philip Reed’s office. “They are trying to develop this project on a fast-track, and there are a lot of concerns – one is traffic.”

Currently the government is also conducting two studies: on traffic loads and on long-term development of 125th Street. But even though these studies have not been completed, architect Raymond Plumey said that “still they [Economic Development Corporation] are proposing these massive projects.”

In addition, there are at least nine businesses that have been threatened with displacement by the gigantic project. Although the Uptown New York plan has apparently been gestating for several months, local businesses learned only this week that the threat of eviction is imminent.

On Third Avenue and 126th Street, the Damon Bae’s industrial laundry still has a brilliantly colored banner hanging in front, declaring “Grand Opening.” The business opened only last January. Now Bae, who has barely begun to recuperate his start up costs, could suffer a great reversal of fortune. The businessman said it is not an easy thing for an enterprise like his to find a new place, because of environmental regulations, the need for considerable space and the necessity of locating in a manufacturing zone. The blow will also have an impact on his 20 employees.

Rafael Collado, another local entrepreneur, said that he understands the city wants to develop the site, but what matters is what the community thinks.

“When I got my building, it was a dump. Now there’s a lot of interest in the area because it’s gained a lot in value,” Collado said, adding that the existing businesses are “no monuments to the country,” but that the government ought to take them into consideration.

As to the merchants, Collado said: “I hope the city will be smart enough, or let’s call it benevolent, or I don’t know what to call it, but I imagine they have some idea either of purchasing or providing the person who owns a business” with help for the relocation. “The ideal thing would be to relocate us in the area. The people know us here,” he added.

For Ramón Cerda, who has a real estate business on the site, the development was a surprise. “I thought I’d be here for many years.” Moving, he said, would mean “trying to build up a new clientele, which is a little hard.”

Gary Johnson, a Community Board member, said that no one knows how many of the apartments in Uptown New York project will be allowed to rent by the locals.

The Economic Development Corporation, which announced to discuss the project in a meeting on July 12, held at the Julia de Burgos Center, provoked anger because it is held in the summer when the Community Board is in recess.