Faced with a barrage of criticism for his decision to rent lavish office space in Manhattan, former President Bill Clinton on Monday abandoned his plans to move into the 56th floor of a midtown skyscraper. He is now looking uptown, at more modest space on Harlem’s main shopping boulevard, with equally panoramic views.
Officials at the General Services Administration, which oversees office space for former presidents, said Clinton’s office had notified them that he was no longer interested in Carnegie Hall Tower, where he had planned to rent the 56th floor for $738,700 a year.
Monday morning, Clinton’s staff met with the owners of a newly renovated office building at 55 125th St. and toured the vacant top floor of the 14-story building. The asking rent for the 7,000-square-foot space is $30 a square foot, compared with $89 at Carnegie Hall Tower. The total annual rent would be $210,000.
Karen Tramontano, Clinton’s chief of staff, had toured several sites in Harlem on Monday before settling on this one, an aide to the former president said. The GSA will begin lease negotiations as early as Tuesday, the aide said, and the Secret Service will begin inspecting it immediately.
The building is owned by Cogswell Realty Group, which recently installed new elevators, a marble lobby and a new heating system in what is arguably the best privately owned office building in Harlem. Clinton would still have panoramic views of Central Park and midtown.
His office would be two blocks away from the landmark Apollo Theater, rather than next door to Carnegie Hall. Instead of eating caviar at the Russian Tea Room or pastrami at the Carnegie Deli, the president would have the choice of Bayou, a highly regarded Cajun Creole restaurant; the Lenox Lounge; or the new Starbucks at the corner of Lenox Avenue and 125th Street.
His new neighbors on 125th Street would be Marine recruiters, Internal Revenue Service agents and social workers instead of Barry Diller, the chairman of USA Networks, and Steve Case of AOL Time Warner, who lease space at Carnegie Hall Tower.
But Harlem may feel more like home; even at his lowest points, Clinton has always received a warm welcome there. An aide to the former president said it was not lost on Clinton that the African-American community stood by him throughout his presidency.
Moreover, the building is in an empowerment zone that Clinton helped create in his first term.
“The president wanted to be a good neighbor in a neighborhood that wanted him to be a part of it,” said Julia Payne, a Clinton spokeswoman. “It was never about the view of Central Park. It was about the work he wants to do. He will continue to work on economic issues and developing new markets, and what better place than Harlem?”
Officials in Harlem were clearly ecstatic at the possibility. “I’m very optimistic and hopeful that the president is prepared to say yes,” said Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), who organized the meeting Monday. “It’s not done until he says so. But I expect he will express his decision by morning.”
Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.), who is chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the budgets for former presidents, said he was pleased by the turnabout. He has been the chief critic of Clinton’s decision to rent space at an annual rent that he said was more than the other ex-presidents combined.
Ronald Reagan, for instance, rents nearly 6,000 square feet for $285,000 in Los Angeles. But that does not include another 3,560 feet set aside for Secret Service agents. Gerald Ford pays $99,000 a year for space in Mirage, Calif.
