NYDN: Buyers Line up for Slave Theater

The estate of late Brooklyn Civil Court Judge John Phillips, who created Bed-Stuy’s famed Slave Theater, an Afrocentric cultural center in its heyday, has received five offers to buy the troubled property, according to The New York Daily News. The auction scheduled to take place Aug. 9 has been pushed back to November. All the offers came in around $2 million, the Daily News said. The various plans include condos, a clothing retailer, and a Red Roof Inn combined with a theater. The condo developer is reportedly Ore International, which has done condo conversions of rowhouses and new residential construction in Clinton Hill, Prospect Park South and Carroll Gardens. The New Brooklyn Theater is not one of the five who made offers, but they are running a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to buy the property and transform it into a center for Brooklyn performing arts, as previously reported. The estate owes $190,000 in liens on the building. Liabilities on all the judge’s properties total $3.4 million, according to Rev. Samuel Boykin, Phillips’ nephew, who is in charge of the estate. The buyer the estate is looking for is the one “who can show they can close on this sale,” said Boykin.
Buyers Line up for Bed-Stuy’s Famed Slave Theater [NY Daily News]
Slave Theater Auction Cancelled; Building in Contract? [Brownstoner]
Nonprofit Turns to Kickstarter to Buy Slave Theater [Brownstoner]
Foreclosure Auction Set for Slave Theater [Brownstoner]
Slave Theater Vacated, but Questions of Ownership Linger [Brownstoner]
Bed Stuy’s Slave Theater Still Looking for Buyer [Brownstoner] GMAP
Photo by Hobo Matt