Deal Permits Clinton to Get Harlem Office Space

Capping three days of negotiations, New York City officials and a Harlem landlord reached an agreement Friday enabling former President Clinton to occupy a 14th-floor suite in a new office building on 125th Street.

Earlier this week, Clinton toured the site and said he hoped to move into the offices. But a last-minute snag emerged when it was learned that New York’s child welfare agency had signed a lease for the space. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said that he supported the idea of the ex-president taking up residence in the historic black community but that the building owners should “make the city an offer it can’t refuse” to break the lease.

The deal was reached, Giuliani said Friday, when Cogswell Realty, which owns the edifice at 55 W. 125th St., agreed to cut the rent city agencies pay for lower floors they occupy in the building. Two previous offers made by the landlords were rejected by the city as inadequate.

“We reached agreement, and I think it’s an excellent agreement,” the mayor told reporters at a City Hall news conference. “I think everyone now will be able to be satisfied by this. I believe that President Clinton’s being in New York, particularly in Harlem, is a very good thing.”

Clinton will be renting 7,000 square feet for an estimated $210,000 annual rent; his offices will be several blocks from the Apollo Theater.

“You give up something to get something,” added Arthur Stern, Cogswell’s chief executive officer, who conceded that the money he will lose in the short run could be made up with the prestige of having Clinton as a tenant.

The agreement puts to rest at least one of the controversies that have plagued Clinton since leaving the White House. Earlier, he had announced plans to lease--for $800,000 a year--offices in a midtown high-rise overlooking Central Park. Clinton had pledged to contribute $300,000 from his personal library foundation to cut the burden on taxpayers, who typically pay for an ex-president’s office space. Critics, however, said $500,000 was still too much.

Clinton, who drew heavy crowds and cheers when he visited the building, said he had picked Harlem because of his administration’s commitment to economic growth in urban areas. The neighborhood has benefited from heavy investment in recent years, with new tenants like Old Navy, Starbucks and Magic Johnson Cinemas.

Clinton is expected to occupy the new offices sometime in the next few months, after design work is complete.