Black Owned Businesses Evicted from EastPoint – Culture, Featured, Front Page, Local, National, News

Entrepreneurs Worry Broken Leases Will Leave Them with Insurmountable Debt OKLAHOMA CITY — The EastPoint Project, located at 1720 NE 23rd Street, was heralded in its development phase as haven for Black entrepreneurs who wanted to grow their businesses in Northeast Oklahoma City’s historically Black community.  But today, several of the Black owned businesses that opened in the development have closed, evicted for failure to pay rent.  “Businesses that are truly Black owned” are closing, said Brittani Hunter, who’s coffee shop, Spiked: A Coffee Concept, closed its doors a few weeks ago.  However, the founders of Pivot Project, the development team that brought the EastPoint Project to life while attempting to “reframe the conversation with white developers going into Black communities,” remain hopeful the project will ultimately succeed.  Some of the former tenants are now taking a second look at the leases they signed — for which they were required to provide a personal guarantee putting their personal assets at risk if they didn’t stay current with rent payments for the entire 10-year lease period — as they face pending legal action.  Only now are some understanding that the 15% equity ownership stake in the EastPoint Project they received upon...