Clinton May Head Uptown

By Stephen M. Silverman

05/21/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

In the face of harsh criticism over his decision to rent high-priced office space in Manhattan, former President Bill Clinton on Monday abandoned plans to move into the lavish Carnegie Hall Tower and is said to be looking at more modest space uptown, in New York's Harlem. The Carnegie Hall Tower, which had been reserving space on its 56th floor for the former chief executive (for some $738,000 a year), was notified on Monday by the General Services Administration, which oversees office space for ex-presidents, that Clinton would not be moving in, say reports. That same day, according to The New York Times and other news agencies, members of Clinton's staff met with the owners of a newly renovated office building on 125th St., between Lenox and Fifth Ave., which is essentially the gateway to Harlem, traditionally the center of the city's African-American community. Total annual rent on this space would come to $210,000, said The Times, which described the space as a 7,000-sq.-ft. office at the top of a vacant 14-story building with panoramic views of Central Park and the George Washington Bridge. Civic leaders in Harlem embraced the news of Clinton's possible arrival and noted that he would probably become a habitue at Bayou, a popular Cajun Creole restaurant.