Controversy in Brooklyn Over The Planned Demolition of Bedford-Stuyvesant's Historic Slave Theater

The small, but ornate auditorium located on Fulton Street in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood opened in 1910 as a vaudeville house and then movie theatre called the Regent. Though originally showing first-run features, hard times converted the venue to a grindhouse screening exploitation flicks.

That changed in 1984, when the theatre was purchased by civil court judge, John Phillips, who renamed the building and filled it with murals of leaders like Marcus Garvey and Martin Luther King Jr. Phillips scheduled events more in line with promoting the culture of the African-American neighborhood, and after a black man was beaten to death in Howard Beach, Queens, in 1986, activists like Al Sharpton began hosting regular rallies there.

But after Phillips' death in 2008, control of the theater building passed to an Ohio pastor named Samuel Boykin, a relative and executor of his estate, who sold it in 2013 for $2.1 million.

Some call the crumbling venue an eyesore while others call it a cultural landmark in need of refurbishing, so when it was resold this past November, along with two other properties, for $18.5 million to developer Fulton Halsey Holdings, who promptly applied for a demolition permit, the news divided the neighborhood.

"The battle to save the Slave is the intersection of race, class, history and property," Jeff Strabone, chair of the New Brooklyn Theatre company, tells the Wall Street Journal.

New Brooklyn Theatre, which has been attempting to buy the theater and preserve its history, frequently mounts politically tinged productions addressing local issues.

"The owner of the property is devising a strategy that will, through a redevelopment of the site, return it to uses that serve the community by creating jobs and new housing," said a spokesman for Fulton Halsey Holdings. "We are actively engaged in a series of conversations with stakeholders, which will ultimately be reflected in our strategy as we move forward."

As the Slave has changed hands, controversy has followed. Father and son Clarence and Omar Hardy, longtime associates of Mr. Phillips who had a small business selling books and other items in the theater lobby, dispute all transactions following Mr. Phillips's death and claim to be the rightful owners of the building.

"This is a symbol and a monument of the civil-rights movement in New York City," said the younger Mr. Hardy. "It's a pillar of the Bed-Stuy community. We want to bring it back. We want to use this as a cultural institute."

On Dec. 18, the Hardys led a group of protesters down Fulton Street chanting "Save the Slave!" They got into a heated dispute with local Councilman Robert Cornegy, whom they accused of signing off on the destruction of the theater, an allegation Mr. Cornegy denied.

"The Slave Theater's role as a site for African-American activism in incredibly important," Mr. Cornegy later said. "The name alone evokes strong feelings."

But Cornegy also says that history has been overshadowed by years of disrepair, so that many neighbors now see the building only as an eyesore, and that he is doing his best to have the community benefit from the property.

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