The Joffrey Ballet School has signed on to lease the first two floors of the former PS 64 for student housing, The Wall Street Journal reports today. (You may need a subscription to access the online brief.)Developer Gregg Singer said that the school, which Robert Joffrey founded in 1953, will take 120 of the beds, with a monthly rental rate of between $1,550 and $1,650. While the school has a dorm on Grove Street, there is a wait list for rooms for the dance students, some of whom are high school age.
"The dormitories are important for us because they create a safe, comfortable environment," Lee Merwin, director of operations at Joffrey Ballet School, told the Journal.
Previously, the Journal reported that Cooper Union has an agreement in place for 200 of the beds at the former P.S. 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center on East Ninth Street near Avenue B.
Some residents and local politicians want to see the long-controversial building returned for community use. There is a "Save Our Community Center MARCH AND RALLY" scheduled for Wednesday evening. Details here.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood
Efforts continue to fight the dorm planned for the former PS 64 on East 9th Street
Testimony Of Councilmember Rosie Mendez regarding the former PS 64
So, assuming Singer actually has leases in hand here (and not vague agreements in principle), and he gets the OK to go ahead with this, is there anything keeping him from turning these dorms into luxury housing a year or two down the road, when a tenant decides not to renew or if he just feels like it?
ReplyDeleteAnd is a dorm considered by some city entity to be "community use," or did that just fall by the wayside somewhere down this long road to fuckery?