Results tagged “greggsinger”

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.

Worrying about how much money exactly ConEd owes folks in Queens (three months free electricity sounds nice to us) must seem like small potatoes if you don't even have a home or business to power in the first place. We mention this because for the first time in three years the number of people who are in just such an unenviable position is on the rise. "As of Wednesday, there were 8,424 families - representing 24,776 individuals - in city shelters, about 5 percent more than last July's figure of 8,046." To see the actual daily report click here (PDF).

As we mentioned yesterday in Extra, Extra, this week brought Manhattan preservationists some bad news and some bad news with a side of hope.

Apparently bad behavior by real estate developers isn't limited to Brooklyn. On Tuesday, the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission awarded protected status to the old PS64 building on Ninth Street. The building had been occupied for 20 years by CHARAS/El Bohio, a community organization, until it was bought by Gregg Singer. He announced plans to strip the building of its architectural details and turn it into a 19-story university dorm, outraging just about everyone in the neighborhood. Outraged by the Landmarks decision, Singer has announced his revenge on the neighborhood activists: stripping the building of its architectural details and turning the building into a homeless shelter! The Villager has a long report:

A developer's plan to turn that school at 605 East 9th street into a dorm has fallen through as the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals voted against his plan. The Department of Buildings had rejected Gregg Singer's attempts to get a permit to turn the 5-story school into a 19-story dorm multiple times, causing him to go to Board of Standards and Appeals. While community groups are relieved there won't be 19 floors of students, Singer says the "decision sets a very dangerous precedent for the city — one in which future bidders on city properties will need to take into account before they bid. That is, that the city may sell you a site with a determined restriction only to attempt to change its zoning use after the fact. This amounts to an illegal taking of property.” Dude, you're dealing with New York City: The game changes all the time - you just didn't have a friend at City Hall!