Licence Denied For Methadone Clinic In $4M Harlem Brownstone

HARLEM, NY — City and state officials have denied a methadone clinic a licence to operate out of a $4 million brownstone in the historic Sugar Hill section of Harlem, officials announced Friday. Residents living near the proposed clinic feared it would bring drug dealing to the neighborhood and argued the clinic should be placed in a neighborhood that doesn't have as many drug facilities as Harlem.

The city Department of Health and the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services were united in denying Argus Community, Inc a licence for the clinic. The clinic would have been located in 730 St. Nicholas Ave., which Argus bought for $4.3 million in August of 2017.

"Our community knows that people need healthcare and that facilities like the one proposed here are vital to combat the epidemic of addiction, but no one knows better how to serve our community than the people who live in it. I am proud to tell you today that our city and our state listened to the community," State Senator Brian Benjamin said in a statement.

Opponents of the clinic said they were not against drug treatment facilities, but that 730 St. Nicholas Ave. is the wrong site for one. Residents argued that the placement was unfair because Harlem already has a disproportionate number of similar facilities.

Long-time area residents also feared the clinic would reverse decades of hard work to build up the area following the drug epidemic that plagued the area from the 1970s to the 1990s.

These concerns were voiced during a July rally in front of the St. Nicholas Avenue brownstone.

"Harlem has always cared for those struggling with addiction, as evidenced by the tremendous saturation of social service facilities in the community. Harlem has as many as 13 methadone clinics. Harlem houses 45 percent of the borough of Manhattan’s 29 methadone facilities," Carolyn Brown of the Sugar Hill Concerned Neighbors group said. "This is not fair."

Both the city Health Department and the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services cited the proposed clinic's location and the community's opposition as the main factors in denying the application, officials said.

Community members and officials also felt that Argus had not been fully transparent with its intentions for the site.

Padmore John, the chair of Community Bard 9, said during the July rally that when Argus initially approached the board there was no indication that 730 Saint Nicholas Ave. would become a methadone clinic. It wasn't until a May community board meeting that Argus revealed its full plan for the site.

Officials said Friday that they would work with Argus in order to find another site more appropriate for a clinic.

Photo courtesy State Senator Brian Benjamin's office