Paul Taylor Dance Company Loses Its Lease
NYC's Paul Taylor Dance Company moved into the second floor of 552 Broadway, between Prince and Spring streets in the heart of Soho, 20 years ago. But now Taylor and his dancers, facing the same rising rents that have plagued New Yorkers for years, will have to move out.
The New York Times reports that the Banana Republic on the first floor of the building wants to expand into the second floor space occupied by the dance company, and building owner Milton Steinberg has agreed. The Paul Taylor Dance Company has thus lost its lease and must move out by April 15.
From "A Clothing Shop Moves Up, and a Dance Company Must Move Out":
"How can we compare the money they paid?" Mr. Steinberg, 84, said in a recent interview. "I feel we should get market rent, which is available...
"I have my children," Mr. Steinberg said. "I have a partner who’s very sick. Everything is on my neck."
Mr. Steinberg fretted that he would be seen as the evil landlord but said that he had refrained from raising the dance company’s rent for at least five years and was a regular contributor to the company (as Taylor officials confirmed). "Things change," he said. "I feel very bad."
The company is scrambling to find new space that a nonprofit organization can afford. The search is complicated by the special needs of a dance company. Dance studios need to have wide-open areas without columns, and the ceilings must be at least 14 feet high, to preserve the foreheads of dancers being lifted into the air. Mr. Taylor, 78, who did not respond to several messages left with company officials, is said to have looked at seven or eight sites, none perfect.
The Times article also notes that Taylor insists the company remain in Manhattan. But maybe it's time to find a cheaper space in Brooklyn or another borough, as so many New Yorkers (including small dance companies and studios) have done.
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