BRADENTON, Fla. - A well-known Jewish learning center in Bradenton is now facing eviction and an uncertain future. 

The Al Katz Center for Holocaust Survivors and Jewish Learning has been located in the Cortez Commons Shopping Center for the past five years. In January, the plaza was purchased by Clover Investment Properties, which declined to renew the center’s lease past October 31. 

“We’re a Jewish learning center and for some reason they don’t want a Jewish learning center in their shopping center,” said co-founder Lawrence Newman.

Newman runs the non-profit with his wife, who is immunocompromised, and has been in quarantine at home. He says they don’t feel comfortable hiring movers or shopping for new spaces during the pandemic. 

“We asked for a reasonable accommodation under the American Disabilities Act,” Newman said. “I asked to please give us an extension and we’ll see how the pandemic goes so its safe for us to look for a place and we’ll continue to pay, and they absolutely refused.” 

Chad Keller, COO of Clover Investment Properties, told Spectrum Bay News 9 that the center’s lease has expired and they were paying far below market price for the space. 

“The Landlord made and communicated a business decision a long time ago, which the Newman’s do not like,” Keller wrote in an email.  “Organizations are signing new leases and relocating every day throughout the state. Instead of searching for new space, the Newman’s invested their six month notice period into relentlessly harassing the Landlord and making slanderous accusations that have no merit.”

In the video above, Spectrum Bay News 9’s Angie Angers has the full story.