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Early Addition
A Manhattan Supreme Court Justice has delivered another defeat to a developer's long-delayed plan to turn a century-old school in the East Village into a massive dormitory. You may recall the heated controversy surrounding developer Gregg Singer's plans to build a 19-story university dorm where a five-story school on East 9th Street stands—the school, finished in 1906 and abandoned by the Department of Education in the '70s, had been revived as the vibrant Charas community arts center.
There was enormous protest when Singer bought the building for $3.15 million and evicted Charas in December 2001, and his plans for the building have been repeatedly stymied by the Department of Buildings and the Landmarks Preservation Commission [LPC], which designated the school a landmark in 2006.
In an attempt to thwart the landmark designation, Singer proceeded to strip the facade of much of its ornamentation, and then went to court to argue that his changes, voilà, made the French Renaissance Revival building a landmark no more. But in a ruling made public yesterday, Judge Shirley Kornreich dealt Singer another defeat by upholding the landmark designation. In a statement, LPC Chair Robert Tierney said, "Property owners ought to think twice before removing a building’s architectural details to thwart landmark designation."
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THIS is the kind of thing the city should use eminent domain for - force this dickhead to sell the landmark as punishment for defacing it.
What I want to know is, will he be prosecuted at all for defacing a landmark?
Agreed.
It should be a art/history museum for the East Village/LES
As PS 1 has shown us, old schools make great museums
Two months ago a large piece of the facade collapsed onto the courtyard... Singer is a criminal for letting that building decay.
WTF!? a school is not a landmark. & they landmarked it after he bought it? he may not be a nice man but that's a lot of BS.
landmarking things doesn't help anyone. now we have an empty building that's falling apart.
congratulations, morons!
It's good that this guy got zinged after trying to slime his way to success. It's a pity his interests guided him to deface the lovely building. Eventually, he'll sell (at a profit, albeit not the one he wanted), and we'll be left with a ruin.
It was a community/ arts center for 22 years before singer bought it. It should be again-- what a jerk.
I wonder, if we keep building over everything that makes this city new york, will people pay still pay millions of dollars to live here and "dorm" here.
Why should an abandoned city building retain landmark status? The Landmark Preservation Commission didn't bother to give it landmark status until 2006, 5 years after the developer bought the building. This doesn't do the neighborhood any good because if they have their way, it will remain vacant and dilapidated. The dorm will bring people and money and in the case of the East Village, an upgrade.
@9 Dealing with the LPC isn't the kind of thing that gets done in a week. Properties have to been nominated, investigated and researched, so it takes time.
I think it's really selfish to damage a landmarked building - it's public space, everyone has to look at it. The city learned it's lesson when they tore down the original McKim, Mead and White Penn Station.
Why should an abandoned city building retain landmark status?
You'd be playing right into the hands of any developers who want to tear down a landmark. They'll just empty it out, claim it's abandoned, and boom, no more landmark protection, according to your reasoning. As it is, he's probably practicing demolition by neglect on this building.
the guy kicked the organization out. it wasn't abandoned.
smitty is correct.
charas was an integral part of the lower east side for 20-some years. as you can see from the photo, the building is huge--it housed SO many community and arts groups, even some artists in residence. its meaning to that neighborhood can't be overemphasized.
after a long battle, singer evicted charas three or four years ago. and immediately boarded it up.
such a sickening, sickening waste.
yes, it should be a community center again.
singer is a scumbag.
Wow, I attended kindergarden at this school back in 1975. Back then it was known as PS 64. I still remember my first day there. I lived across the street and my dad would let us play in the courtyard on the weekends. I remember thinking the school looked magnificent and huge whenever I looked up at it or out the windows of my six- story walk up. My family moved soon after my kindergarden year let up because the neighborhood was getting dangerous and there seemed to be weekly fires (arson)on our street. I am sorry to hear there's so much controversy over what becomes of this building.
As a former student who would like to do something, is there any way for other former students & graduates to band together to help out?
And if this scumbag owner lets the building rot further, the city should seize it and return it to a useful life.