Harlem entrepreneurs hoping to save their coworking space

Cheryl Hill, a film and television producer, runs her business out of the CUNY Innovation Hub, a coworking space in Harlem.

“It’s been good place to work — a good place to grow my company,” Hill said.

The incubator is filled with 15 businesses, including a notary public, a trading company and a juice maker.

But they may to soon leave.

The City University of New York has leased the space to businesses at a discount for around a decade, but budget cuts have forced the school to end the program and the leases.

“This space is very, very important to me as I’m sure it is for the other people,” said Edgar Telesford, the project manager at The Juice Doctor.

Hill, the co-founder and executive producer of Harlem Film Company, and other business owners say they enjoy working in Harlem. If they have to leave, they say the community will be deprived of important services.

“I love serving my community with my notary and fingerprinting business,” said Tina Lee Jones of First Class Notary LLC.

CUNY recently released a statement that said they “remain steadfast in [their] commitment to foster faculty innovations and will advance this mission through new models and at our other innovation hubs.”

“In the meantime, we’re working to ensure a smooth transition for all incubator members, helping them identify and access local resources that will enable them to carry their work forward,” the statement read.

Hill says the businesses are trying to negotiate with the property owner, a commercial realty firm, but they know rent will cost more.

The business owners say the building owner wants one lease for all of them, which may mean they have to find a guarantor. They hope they can figure out a solution before they have to move out in June.

“There’s a camaraderie with the tenants here and we want to try to keep this space,” Hill said.