By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The Metropolitan Transit Authority is threatening to evict one of Manhattan's most beloved experimental-theater companies over $306,000 in back rent and interest.
The group, 3-Legged Dog, will be kicked out of its 80 Greenwich Street location unless it forks over the money, the MTA said in a statement on Friday.
This eviction would mark the second traumatic move for the group, which was forced from its original home at 30 West Broadway after it was destroyed during the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Kevin Cunningham, a spokesman for the theater group, said the MTA should be paying them, not the other way around.
Since moving into the location in 2006, the group has paid $1.6 million to maintain the building, which should have been paid for by the MTA, Cunningham said.
"They just aren't negotiating," Cunningham said of the MTA. "They're an arrogant organization."
The MTA disagreed, and defended their decision to begin eviction proceedings.
"We've been working with the theater for over a year to try and reach an agreement that would enable them to stay in the space," Kevin Ortiz, an MTA spokesman, said in an email.
"They've made repeated promises but continue to be unable to pay full rent. And they now owe more than $300,000, leaving us no choice but to begin eviction proceedings."
The group — best-known for its 2007 multimedia installation for the renowned writer Charles Mee, and for being displaced after 9/11 — has attracted some influential advocates.
Representative Jerrold Nadler and State Senator Daniel Squadron chimed in on Thursday with a letter to MTA Chairman Jay Walder, encouraging him to negotiate a payment schedule, rather than evicting the organization.
Despite the MTA's demands, Cunningham said 3-Legged Dog would not go down without a fight.
"We are open for business," he said. "We will fight this tooth and nail."
