by Jeroslyn JoVonn
April 7, 2026
Rev. Al Sharpton has acquired a century-old constructing in Harlem to redevelop it as the brand new headquarters for the Nationwide Motion Community.
Rev. Al Sharpton has acquired the Faison Firehouse Theater on Hancock Place in Harlem as a part of a redevelopment effort to ascertain a brand new headquarters for his Nationwide Motion Community.
The famend civil rights chief, who lately spoke on the funeral of his longtime good friend and mentor, Rev. Jesse Jackson, introduced plans to relocate the Nationwide Motion Community, the group he based in 1991, to the newly acquired Faison Firehouse Theater, which shall be reworked into the Home of Justice Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Workshop.
“I ain’t gonna be no extra well-known,” Sharpton instructed The New York Occasions. “The query is, what do I go away?”
Rev. Jesse Jackson’s connection to the venture goes past its title. Sharpton’s civil rights group, lengthy primarily based in a rented West 145th Road workplace that Jackson affectionately referred to as the “Home of Justice,” is now shifting right into a everlasting dwelling. Jackson’s son, Jesse Jackson Jr., mentioned the shift to possession displays his father’s lengthy friendship with Sharpton and his imaginative and prescient of securing lasting stability within the struggle for justice.
“My father noticed Reverend Sharpton as one in every of his greatest college students,” Jackson Jr. mentioned. “He referred to as him disciple No. 1.”
The century-old constructing, initially designed by Howard Constable in 1909 as a firehouse, was later reworked right into a neighborhood theater and residence by choreographer George Faison in 1999. In March 2025, Faison approached Sharpton about promoting the property to a non-developer, resulting in the deal. In accordance with NAN Vice Chair Jennifer Jones Austin, the group expects to take a position between $5 million and $7 million within the buy and renovations.
Sharpton mentioned he envisions the area as a hub for arts and activism rooted within the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance. The venture can also be a part of a broader effort to push again towards gentrification in Harlem, the place the Black inhabitants has steadily declined from about 77% in 2000 to roughly 50% in 2023, whereas Hispanic and white populations have grown.
“Harlem was the place of political energy, and that’s been decimated,” Sharpton mentioned. “I hope the Home of Justice represents individuals that can print their roots and keep proper there.”
Kevin McGruder, writer of “Race and Actual Property: Battle and Cooperation in Harlem, 1890–1920,” famous that whereas neighborhood change is pure, gentrification is totally different—particularly when race performs a task, making it greater than only a impartial market shift. In the meantime, Stephen Wilder of the New York Metropolis Landmarks Preservation Fee and principal at Assume Wilder Structure in Harlem emphasised that builders should perceive and respect a neighborhood’s historical past earlier than pursuing new improvement.
“While you’re in a neighborhood, the query is how do you add with out taking away,” Wilder mentioned.
RELATED CONTENT: In The Spirit of Jesse Jackson, Obama And Sharpton Urge New Technology To Preserve The Struggle Alive
