Reminders: Community meeting about the former PS 64 is tonight

[EVG photo from Jan. 8]

As we noted back on Jan. 9, plans continue moving forward to convert the former P.S 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center on East Ninth Street into student housing.

Developer Gregg Singer, who bought the property between Avenue B and Avenue C from the city in 1998, is reportedly pushing Mayor de Blasio's administration to remove a stop-work order that has been in place since 2015.

According to published reports, Singer has a signed lease with Adelphi University, and hopes to have students move in by the fall of 2018.

Here's more from Crain's in a piece published on Jan. 11:

City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez and other local officials wrote to Buildings Department Commissioner Rick Chandler in October, saying that the lease does not meet the "community use" requirement, because Adelphi would use only part of the building. The officials also objected to the university's position that dormitories count as an appropriate community use. In an October letter to Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, Fisher argued that a dormitory would meet the deed-restriction requirements.

The disagreement touches a political nerve partly because the city's recent removal of a deed restriction a few blocks away allowed Rivington House, a nonprofit nursing home, to become high-priced condos. Unlike in that case, P.S. 64's deed restriction was issued by the City Council, and only the council may lift it. Singer is not seeking the restriction's removal, but the sensitivity stemming from the Rivington controversy and local opposition has kicked a Buildings Department matter up to the mayor's office.

CBS 2 also filed this report...



Preservationist groups and other residents have been opposed to Singer's plans, and want to see a return of the landmarked building to use as a cultural and community center.

All this and more will be a topic of discussion during a community meeting tonight (first noted here on Jan. 9)...



The meeting tonight is at 6:30 at Loisaida, Inc., 710 E. Ninth St. near Avenue C (next to Ninth Street Espresso).

Previously on EV Grieve:
Community meeting set as dorm plans continue moving forward at the former PS 64

Community meeting set as dorm plans continue moving forward at the former PS 64

There are recently disclosed new developments in the works at the former P.S 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center as developer Gregg Singer remains committed to converting the long-empty building that extends from Ninth Street to 10th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C into dorms. (Singer bought the formerly city-owned building in 1998 for $3.15 million.)

According to the Greenwich Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP):

[Singer] is seeking to get around the restrictive declaration and the tighter rules we helped fight for years ago and sneak in illegitimate uses. He has hired the same lobbyist involved in the scandalous lifting of the deed restriction for the nearby Rivington House.

Rather than get the City to lift the deed restriction as was done there, he is seeking to get the City to redefine the restrictions on dorms that apply to this and other sites, to make it easier to sneak in illegal “dorms for hire” and to do work on the building without required documentation and commitments in place. The City has issued a preliminary ruling in favor of the developer’s request, which has far-reaching implications not only for this property but others throughout the City.

Last June, The Commercial Observer reported that Madison Realty Capital provided a $44 million loan to Singer’s Singer Financial Corporation to recapitalize a dorm.

In past years, the Joffrey Ballet and Cooper Union were attached to the project.

Now, as The Villager reported on Dec. 26, the new "anchor tenant" is Adelphi University, which has an outpost at 75 Varick St. Singer reportedly signed a lease with the school this past August.

The Schedule A on file with the DOB shows that the Adelphi students would be on the second and third floors of the building... while the fourth and fifth would remain unoccupied for the time being...



The lobbyist in question is Jim Capalino, a former Mayor de Blasio ally. As Politico noted, Capalino and his staffers have a knack for getting what they want for their clients.

Capalino has been working on behalf of Singer's LLC since April 2014. Here's more from The Villager:

Records from the Lobbying Bureau of the Office of the City Clerk show that from January 2015 to December 2016, 9th & 10th L.L.C. made three payments to James F. Capalino and Associates for a total of roughly $227,000. The first payment was for $30,000, with the “target” being the Department of Buildings, and the purpose being for “determination regarding real property.” The second was for $86,666, with the targets listed as D.O.B., along with “councilmembers and community boards,” with the intended purpose stated as “aiding the client in seeking various approvals for its property.” The third payment was for $120,000, with the target again D.O.B. and the purpose only listed as “non-procurement.”

The landmarked building has sat empty since 2001, when Singer reportedly evicted CHARAS, the cultural and community center. Through the years, preservationists, community groups and local elected officials have been successful in opposing Singer's various plans, including a 23-story megadorm. At the same time, there has been a movement to return the building to use as a cultural and community center.

There's a community meeting on Jan. 18 to discuss the latest developments at the former PS 64 ...



The meeting is 6:30 p.m. on the 18th at Loisaida, Inc., 710 E. Ninth St. near Avenue C (next to Ninth Street Espresso if that helps).

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood

Deed for 'community facility use only' at the former P.S. 64 now on the market

Efforts continue to fight the dorm planned for the former PS 64 on East 9th Street

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approves application for modifications at PS 64

'Misinformation' cited as DOB issues Stop Work Order at the former PS 64; community meeting set for Sunday afternoon

Development drama continues at the former P.S. 64, where the city approved dorm-conversion permits (again)

[Updated] The former P.S. 64 appears to be for sale

The latest PS 64 debacle: Investors sue Gregg Singer

Report: Gregg Singer secures $44 million loan to continue plan to convert former PS 64 into a dorm

Last time that we heard anything about the former P.S 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center, the owner, developer Gregg Singer, was being sued by his investors.

The Real Deal in late December reported:

The asset manager said it and the other investors put almost $8 million worth of debt and equity into the project, and after paying off the defaulted mortgage the development partnership took out a $22 million bridge loan at 11 percent interest, guaranteed by Onyx.

Despite earlier reports that Singer had signed the West Village’s Ballet School as a tenant, however, progress at the site struggled, and in July the company defaulted on the loan, kicking the interest rate up to 16 percent.

Singer apparently remains committed to converting the long-empty building that extends from Ninth Street to 10th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C into dorms.

The Commercial Observer reported last week that "Madison Realty Capital has provided a $44 million loan to Gregg Singer’s Singer Financial Corporation to recapitalize a student housing development."

Here's more:

“There is a shortage of quality student housing options in Manhattan,” Joshua Zegen, a managing principal and a co-founder of MRC, said in prepared remarks provided to COF. “Our financing of this project will help the borrower tap into that demand and turn a vacant building into a thriving housing option for students residing in New York City. This new development will provide a brand new student living facility with contemporary amenities, right in the heart of the East Village, one of the most artistic and diverse communities in the city.”

The article notes the new dorm will house 535 students, and include outdoor spaces for them.

It's like 2013 all over again. Or maybe 2009.

More than three years ago there were reports that both Cooper Union and the Joffrey Ballet were leasing space here for students.

It is not known — publicly anyway — if Singer has any signed leases for the space, which still needs approval from the city to renovate. (A Stop Work Order remains on the property, dated from last August.) Singer did not comment in the Observer story.

Singer bought the formerly city-owned building on East 9th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C in 1998 for $3.15 million. There has been a movement to return the building to use as a cultural and community center.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood

Deed for 'community facility use only' at the former P.S. 64 now on the market

Efforts continue to fight the dorm planned for the former PS 64 on East 9th Street

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approves application for modifications at PS 64

'Misinformation' cited as DOB issues Stop Work Order at the former PS 64; community meeting set for Sunday afternoon

Development drama continues at the former P.S. 64, where the city approved dorm-conversion permits (again)

[Updated] The former P.S. 64 appears to be for sale

The latest PS 64 debacle: Investors sue Gregg Singer