EDMONTON–A former music venue owner facing sexual assault charges has stepped down from the board of the downtown building that housed the operation, according to its new tenant.

Greg Scott, operating owner of The Station on Jasper — which sits in the space formerly occupied by Needle Vinyl Tavern — read a statement he said came from the building’s ownership group during a town-hall meeting Monday night.

The building is up for sale.

The Needle closed last November following sexual assault allegations against James Leder dating back to March 2017. Leder, who co-owned the business with two partners, was later charged by police.

“Some of the minority positions are owned by companies that the previous owners of the Needle Vinyl Tavern are involved with. These minority positions currently are up for sale, as is the building in its entirety,” Scott read.

“The owner involved in the incident in March of 2017 has resigned his board position in the building and given his proxy to all matters relating to the building ownership.”

The Alberta Block building has several tenants aside from the Station, including Mr. Barber Shop, Homestead, Alberta Music, Next Architecture and Edmonton Digital Arts College.

StarMetro conducted a corporate registry search on June 25 that found Leder was listed as a director of Redbrick (Alberta Block) Inc., and Leder Investments Ltd. as a voting shareholder.

Scott acknowledged that, while the building’s owners are not involved in his business operations, they are still collecting rent.

Monday’s town hall came after some members of the music community campaigned against his venue.

Last month, a series of posters plastered on street poles in the city’s core suggested The Station was still connected to the Needle’s owners, and e-mails were sent to scheduled performers imploring them not to play there.

Dozens turned out for the town hall, during which Scott sat in front of the stage and took questions from the audience for more than two hours.

Attendees pressed Scott about the new venue’s sexual harassment policy and challenged his efforts to ensure the venue is safe in exchanges that occasionally got heated.

Brittany Rudyck, who quit the Needle last year after saying one of its owners groped her during a function there, said news of Leder’s resignation and the building’s pending sale quelled some of her concerns about the Station.

“I still don’t feel closure in my personal relationship to this space and the venue in general, but I think today was a really important step in coming together as a community and having this conversation. That felt really healing for me,” she said.

“It seems like (Scott) really cares and he wants to try. And because there are so many amazing people in the community offering resources and offering help, I’m holding out hope that maybe this will be a really positive space for people to come in the future.”

Scott said Monday the venue has developed a sexual harassment policy after having staff train with the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton and will make the policy public.

He also said he will organize a second town hall in September, and will start assembling a community advisory board that can meet every month to share ideas and concerns.

Sabrina Kuhn, an artist manager with YEG Music who said she has been sexually harassed on the job at other Edmonton bars and music venues, said the meeting was productive but what happens next will be crucial.

“I think this was a really good start. There’s obviously more conversations that are going to have to happen,” she said.

“If a lot of the things that have been said here can be backed up with action then that’s great, then I think that things will progress forward. But if we leave here today and no followup happens, no direct actions changed, if things are brushed under the rug after incidents happen, then obviously we didn’t learn anything and that would be a shame.”

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Rudyck said in a widely shared social media post last November that one of the venue’s owners had groped her. In the post, Rudyck said she quit her job after owners later refused to address concerns over a recent hire of a man she said had a history of harassing women. Bands started cancelling upcoming shows, and the venue closed its doors two days later.

The Station took over the space in June under new ownership.

Leder was charged in April with one count of sexual assault in relation to a March 2017 incident.

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