Apollo Theater in Talks to Expand

By ANTHONY KLAN
The storied Apollo Theater is in talks with a developer to expand into a planned development on a lot next door that has been vacant since the building that housed the Showman's Café jazz club was destroyed in a 1985 fire.

Grid Properties is planning a three-story commercial complex on a site that formerly housed a jazz club.
Grid Properties Inc., which developed the Harlem USA retail and entertainment complex on 125th Street, is planning a three-story commercial complex on the site that used to be home to the jazz club. Grid is in negotiations to sell the third floor of the project to the Apollo and also is talking to retailers about leasing the other space.

Grid managing director Scott Auster says that construction could start within six months if a deal is cut with the Apollo or a major retailer. "We have been trying to support in any way we can so now it is just a question of whether they are able to get the funding," Mr. Auster says.

The Apollo would use the additional space for administrative purposes and to handle the theater's expanding community education programs, says Apollo public relations manager Nina Flowers. The nonprofit foundation that owns the theater is hoping to raise $12 million to fund the project, she says.

"We have had ongoing dialogue with the owners of that property, of course it would make natural sense for us to expand onto that site," says Ms Flowers.

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