{"id":17282,"date":"2026-06-23T18:02:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T18:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17282"},"modified":"2026-06-23T18:02:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T18:02:59","slug":"from-renter-to-owner-sharpton-locks-in-national-action-networks-harlem-foothold-for-the-long-haul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17282","title":{"rendered":"From renter to owner, Sharpton locks in National Action Network\u2019s Harlem foothold for the long haul"},"content":{"rendered":"

By AARON MORRISON<\/strong><\/p>\n

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The Rev. Al Sharpton\u2019s staff and advisers stood around him just outside the doors of a cozy theater, where some of his most fervent supporters waited to greet him in the newly renovated headquarters of the National Action Network.<\/p>

Read more Comedian Carlos Mencia pleads not guilty to 12 felony charges of failure to pay taxes<\/a><\/p>\n

When doors flung open, Sharpton entered to a standing ovation that continued until he was perched behind a lectern, on a stage decorated with a floor-to-ceiling video screen.<\/p>\n

The audience was not anticipating a call for justice. Instead, the rabble-rousing youth minister turned go-to national advocate was there to declare his organization was officially an owner, no longer a renter, in the historically Black Harlem neighborhood it has called home for more than two decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make something permanent,\u201d Sharpton said recently to the gathered crowd of NAN board members, local clergy and other allies. \u201cWhen people see that you\u2019ve bought a building, they say, \u2018Wait a minute, they\u2019re not going nowhere.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

NAN\u2019s new permanent home is the former Faison Firehouse Theater on Hancock Place, near the intersection of 124th Street and Manhattan Avenue. George Faison, a Tony Award-winning choreographer known for his work in the original 1970s Broadway staging of \u201cThe Wiz,\u201d had bought the firehouse in 1999 and converted it into a community theater.<\/p>\n

When Faison had a choice between selling the former firehouse in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood to a large developer or selling it to NAN, he chose the latter, according to Sharpton.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m 71 years old \u2014 if I was just trying to do it as an Al Sharpton personal fan club, I could just keep renting,\u201d Sharpton told The Associated Press during an interview in his new private office, with large windows overlooking central Harlem.<\/p>

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019m buying it to show I want this to be an institution. I want it to last beyond me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the renovation is structurally complete and its rooms are functional, Sharpton said he expects his weekly Saturday rallies to resume in the new headquarters this summer.<\/p>\n