Judge Rules Against Applebee’s Lease in Harlem Building

By Jennifer 8. Lee
National Black Theater The National Black Theater and its founder, Barbara Ann Teer, now deceased, won a ruling that prevented Applebee’s from moving into its building.
A franchise of the Applebee’s restaurant chain will not be allowed to move into the Harlem building owned in part by the National Black Theater, a State Supreme Court justice ruled on Wednesday afternoon in a case that was marked by the passing of the main plaintiff, Barbara Ann Teer.
In a tangled real estate dispute, Ms. Teer sued last year to prevent Applebee’s from taking on a lease in the building she owned with Nubian Partners on Fifth Avenue between 125th and 126th Streets.
Nubian Partners signed a lease in April 2008 with Apple-Metro, an Applebee’s franchisee, but Ms. Teer argued that the Applebee’s was not consistent with the cultural integrity and mission of the theater group. It was a condition she included in the contract when she entered into the real estate partnership with Nubian in 2002 after she was confronted with foreclosure.

Ms. Teer, who bought the property in the 1960s, sold 49 percent of the property to Nubian Partners, which operates several retail outlets in the building. The building has a monthly mortgage payment of $44,975, with a $5.2 million balloon payment due in 2012. In honor of Ms. Teer’s work, West 126th Street was dedicated as National Black Theater Way.
Justice Walter B. Tolub ruled that Applebee’s lease violated the contract between the parent company of the National Black Theater and Nubian Partners.
Raymond Hannigan, a lawyer at Herrick, Feinstein who represented the National Black Theater in the lawsuit, said, “I think Barbara Ann Teer would be pleased to see this decision and see that this landmark location remained dedicated to African-American arts.”
---http://davidsradiotv2000.blogspot.com/------times N.Y./Region