By: Ellen Cans
Civil rights activist Al Sharpton is involved in a heated dispute with the landlord of the Harlem building where his National Action Network has its headquarters.
As reported by the NY Post, Reverend Sharpton and NAN have been served with legal papers regarding the rental payments and the lease at the building occupied by the social justice organization at 145th Street by Lenox Avenue in Harlem. Lenox By the Bridge LLC is the landlord and developer for the building. “We are working with NAN and Rev. Sharpton to resolve whatever issues we need to address and will have no further comment,” Christopher Cobb, the lawyer for Lenox By the Bridge, told The Post.
Rev. Sharpton commented that NAN is paid up on its rent and that the said dispute just involves negotiations over whether the organization will renew the lease, the new agreed upon rental price, and whether the organization will move elsewhere. “It’s about the extension of the lease. We don’t owe rent to anybody,” Sharpton told The Post. “I’m not aware of this at all. If there is some kind of disconnect, I’m not aware of it at all.” He added that NAN, which had suffered deep financial losses in 2011, is now making ends meet. Indeed, an IRS filing from earlier this year, with the nonprofit’s most recent charitable 990 tax-exempt report, showed that it had $3.8 million in available cash on hand for the 2020 calendar year.
The 67-year-old Baptist minister, talk show host and politician founded the nonprofit civil rights organization in 1991. The group is most notably credited with bringing national attention to issues including racial profiling, police brutality, and the US Naval bombing exercises on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. The group, headquartered in Harlem, NY, has regional offices in Washington, D.C.,Atlanta and Los Angeles, with over 105 chapters in cities across the country. In a 2016 article, Vanity Fair called Sharpton “arguably the country’s most influential civil rights leader”.
NAN’s lawyer, Michael Hardy, confirmed a legal “notice has been served” against NAN by the landlord, but he refused to disclose the grievances specified in the notice. He said lawyers for both sides are meeting to resolve the dispute in a “professional manner.”
As pet the Post, the relationship between Sharpton and Lenox By the Bridge reportedly broke down after a planned redevelopment project for the building stalled, due to political and community opposition. The developer was going to knock down the current building and create two new towers at the site. The developers appeased NAN by including a civil rights museum in the project, which Sharpton wanted, above the new offices that would be occupied by NAN. The plans never moved forward, however, due to opposition which said the project didn’t include enough affordable or subsidized housing for the area.
Outspoken opponents to the project included the local Harlem councilwoman, socialist Kristin Richardson Jordan, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and Community Board 10. Since then, ties between Sharpton and the developer seem to be strained, sources suggested. “There’s disappointment that the project fell apart. Sharpton was looking forward to his museum opening andit didn’t come through,” said a longtime Sharpton associate. Sharpton himself similarly suggested that any conflicts with the landlord are connected to the failed re-development project.