An assortment of locals want one of the East Village’s largest vacant buildings to once again host community groups — it’s just unclear whether they have the leverage to force the owner’s hand.
After a discussion on Friday night at Theatre 80, roughly 20 residents decided they would press the owner of the old P.S. 64 building, Gregg Singer, to designate as much as two stories of the six-story building as public space. (On Friday, The Local posted interior shots of the building in its current state, as well as renderings of its potential redevelopment.) The group — still very much in the planning and strategizing phase — leaned towards making one floor a community facility that would be open to anyone living within a boundary to be determined. The other floor would accommodate local groups. To entice Mr. Singer, the coalition would present him with a list of potential tenants for the other floors in his 100-year-old building. Read more…
Singer Financial Corp and Stephen Rex Brown.
Less than an hour before a meeting at Theatre 80 regarding the long-vacant building that once housed P.S. 64, The Local has obtained new images of what its future could be. A flyer commissioned by the building’s owner, Gregg Singer, states that the 100-year-old building on East Ninth Street between Avenues B and C “will soon undergo a cutting-edge, comprehensive redevelopment and historic restoration to transform this turn of the century, New York City landmark into a modern community facility use such as a new school, medical, hospital or health-related use, college or school dormitory, museum, non-profit organization with or without sleeping accommodations or any other use as defined as a ‘Community Facility Use'” by city zoning laws.
The flyer, which depicts the former school building’s courtyard being used as an outdoor cafe, then goes on to raise the possibility of condominiums in the 152,075-square-foot building, or the separate leasing of its six stories. Lastly, the flyer notes that a gymnasium, pool, auditorium or theater could be built on the ground floor. Read more…
