published June 13, 2023
The coalition Save Our Community Center, CHARAS, former P.S. 64 (SOCCC-64) has embarked on a new letter-writing campaign to urge Mayor Adams to reacquire the long-vacant property on Ninth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C.
Per the campaign site:
The time is past due for the city to act in the interest of the community and intervene to restore this once-vital community resource to its former use.
Send a letter to the Mayor asking him to take steps to reacquire CHARAS now!
You can find the link here.
The campaign is the first activity we’ve heard from here since mid-March, when the day before the foreclosure auction of the address, developer Gregg Singer put the long-vacant property into bankruptcy protection, the latest maneuver in a long saga.
On March 15, SOCCC-64, community leaders and residents hand-delivered a letter from local elected officials — including Councilmember Carlina Rivera, Congressman Dan Goldman, Assemblymember Harvey Epstein and State Sen. Brian Kavanagh — to City Hall requesting a meeting as soon as possible to discuss reacquiring 609 E. Ninth St.
The five-floor landmarked building is zoned for “community facility use,” Any conversion to residential housing would require a zoning variance. The long-standing Stop Work Order and Full Vacate are still on file with the Department of Buildings.
Singer wanted to turn the building into a dorm (more here), though those plans never materialized.
In late December, New York State Justice Melissa Crane ordered the foreclosure and sale of the former P.S. 64 with a default, including penalties and interest totaling approximately $90 million.
The property that Singer purchased from the city in 1998 for $3.15 million fell into foreclosure last year and was reportedly in the hands of lender Madison Realty Capital.
In October 2017, then-Mayor de Blasio’s statement at a Town Hall put forth the idea that the city would take steps to reacquire the building. According to published reports, the Mayor said he’d work to “right the wrongs of the past.” (Recently revealed emails show that de Blasio’s aides thought his efforts to buy the property were “nuts.”)
Some residents want to see the space used again as a community center, as it was during its time as Charas/El Bohio Community Center. Singer evicted the group on Dec. 27, 2001.
Read here: https://evgrieve.com/2023/06/community-group-urges-mayor-adams-to.html