Showdown looming over the Slave Theater in Bed-Stuy
Eye on Real Estate: Developer plans fence to 'keep out intruders' and Omar Hardy vows to tear it down
At this Bedford-Stuyvesant theater, there are no plays. But big drama is looming.
Expect a showdown at the shut-down Slave Theater, which the late retired Civil Court Judge John Phillips owned — between the developer group that bought it last year and the property’s long-time caretaker Clarence Hardy and his son Omar.
The historic theater was an important scene of civil rights activism, where the Rev. Al Sharpton held weekly rallies following hate crimes by white teenagers against three black men in Howard Beach in 1986. The judge’s estate, through administrator Samuel Boykin, sold the property to cover unpaid tax bills just in time to avert an auction.
On July 21, the city Buildings Department issued a permit to The Fulton Halsey Development Group LLC for the installation of a construction fence “to keep out intruders,” according to the application filing.