By Lincoln Anderson
Facing mounting community opposition to his plan for a 23-story dormitory on E. Ninth St. on the site of the former CHARAS/El Bohio cultural and community center, developer Gregg Singer lashed out at Councilmember Margarita Lopez and Community Board 3 yesterday, accusing them of frustrating his efforts to develop the old P.S. 64 building on the site, leaving him no choice but to come up with the idea of a mega-dorm project.
In a May 4 telephone interview with The Villager, Singer also derided CHARAS as a “bogus” organization; blasted Assemblymember Steve Sanders and State Senator Martin Connor for not supporting Dormitory Authority bonds for the project; said residents of the Christadora House should be “happy” there would be some space left between their building and the dorm — which, he added, could be 40 stories tall; and criticized The Villager for failing to print “the truth” about why he’s been unable to develop the site.
“For whatever reasons, you really don’t want to print the truth about what is going on with this property,” Singer told The Villager.
“For five years, we’ve been trying to get nonprofits in there, and Community Board 3 and Margarita Lopez block it,” he said. “Every time we had someone interested, they approached Margarita and the community board and were told, ‘You’re not wanted here.’ The reason there’s a dorm planned is because of Margarita Lopez.
“Margarita’s been telling the nonprofits not to come because she’s going to deny funding. It’s kind of disgusting,” Singer fumed. “She’s a disgrace to the Democrats and a disgrace to the community.”
After buying the turn-of-the-century school building for $3.15 million in 1998, Singer spent several years trying to lease space to nonprofit tenants allowed under the property’s community-use deed restriction. He mentioned schools, senior day care centers and facilities for the developmentally disabled as potential tenants, yet withheld the organizations’ names, claiming they would be harassed by East Village activists who opposed CHARAS’s eviction.
In fact, Singer said he wishes he could save the old public school.
“I’d love to save the building,” he said. “But give me a tenant that can afford the renovation and pay the rent.” He again accused Lopez of scaring off potential tenants, alleging she conveyed to groups that wanted to renovate the building that she’d block funds for them.
Singer figures renovation costs for the building, once estimated at $12 million, are now $15 million.
According to him, the dormitory has to be constructed in its wide and narrow shape and 23 stories high because of building regulations, since every habitable room must have a window. The building’s footprint would be on one-third of the lot, surrounded by an open plaza. It would block the eastern views of the 16-story
Christadora House next door.
“It’s legal,” he said of the height. “It’s 32 feet from the Christadora House. We could build right at their property line. They should be happy.”
Could be 40 stories
“It could be 40 stories,” he continued. “There’s going to be more light and open air than there is now” if the dorm is built, he claimed. “If you go to Avenue C, you’ve got 23-story buildings all around. It’s a half block away and they make a big deal.”
The reason the building isn’t planned even taller is because it would not be as efficient, according to the developer. “This is the smallest it can be and still make sense,” he said. “This is the height that measurements work out to be for the site.”
Singer denied suspicions of a scheme to eventually convert the dorm, if built, into a market-rate residential building.
“The law says you can’t do that,” he said, “and if you looked at the plan, you’d see these are very small units and designed for students.”
National Development Council, the nonprofit organization Singer has brought in to build and operate the dorm, would seek tax-exempt Dormitory Authority bonds for the $100 million project.
However, Assemblymember Sanders and State Senator Connor, who both represent the district, say they won’t support legislation authorizing the bonds if Lopez, the local councilmember — who has a passionate commitment to CHARAS and wants to see the building returned to the community — is opposed.
“These guys — they’re not interested in helping the community,” Singer said. “I think Sanders was part of the Education Committee…. He doesn’t want to help kids go to school and have housing?”
Of CHARAS, which he evicted from the building two years ago and which now offers computer training and English as a Second Language courses in East Harlem, Singer said, “They’re like a joke. They don’t even exist. CHARAS is a bogus group. I asked everyone what they do, and no one knows.
“It’s just a shame,” he said. “The site is such a great site — Margarita Lopez just wants it for CHARAS. The idea of a community and cultural center is what people hang onto…. It’s sad when a politician is against the interests of the community.”
Told that Lopez, the new Stop the Dorm/Save Our School organization and the Save CHARAS activists all want the building “returned to the community” for cultural, art and nonprofit uses, Singer said they have to offer a real proposal.
“What does the community want? They haven’t come forward to say what they want,” he said. “They’ve got to come up with a financial plan that makes sense. Somebody in this world has to be realistic.”
Although last year Singer told The Villager he would possibly consider selling the property, though would prefer to lease it, with the new dorm project, he’s now backed off from saying he would sell.
“I don’t want to sell it,” he said. “I want to lease it, and I’m not selling it to anyone who doesn’t have any money.”
Under the current plan, Singer would lease the dorm to N.D.C. for about 50 years, after which the landlord would gain possession of the property.
Singer said there are dozens of other nonprofits that do student housing that would also be interested in the project.
“They were the best one,” he said of N.D.C., “the most community oriented. If N.D.C. backs out, we’ll go to another student dorm group. There’s a major student housing shortage in New York. This is something that’s good for New York.”
So far, no local universities have expressed interest. But Singer sounded confident, saying, “I think first it’s got to get funding. And then the students will come.”
Caught in middle
Meanwhile, Daniel Marsh, N.D.C.’s regional manager and president of N.D.C. Housing and Economic Development Corporation, seemed to want to put some distance between his group and the dorm project. He stressed that his board has not made a decision on whether to undertake the project and that N.D.C. is still in the phase of doing “due diligence” to see if the project is feasible and something that they want to do.
Calling the project “nowhere,” at the moment, he said he was worn out. Since the story broke in The Villager, he said, “I’ve been inundated with threats and obnoxious e-mails. People have tried to interrupt my business.
“It’s been a terrible experience, very disheartening,” he said of the e-mail blitz, noting he received about 40 on his own computer, alone. “All we’re doing is looking at it, and suddenly it’s become our project — and we’re being tarred for it like we’re evil. We’re a responsible nonprofit. We’re not used to being a focal point — especially on a project we haven’t even made a decision on.”
On second thought, he added many of the e-mails were “well thought-out; they wanted to talk about ideas and plans” and that only one e-mail sent to his terminal was truly belligerent.
Marsh reiterated N.D.C. believes there is a need for student housing Downtown. Yet, he stressed it was Singer who reached out to them, and that it was Singer, in fact, who designed the towering dorm.
“It’s not our project,” Marsh said. “It’s an idea proposed by a developer. He had designed this building long ago and approached nonprofits — and we were one of them. Gregg wanted to see if he could use the property for dormitory use [and] he contacted us — and others too — and we said we’d look at it.”
Marsh said N.D.C. is open to working with the community on plans for the property. Economics are, of course, a major part of any project, but Marsh stressed, “We will never do [this project] unless we have discussions with the community on what will be best for the community.”
Marsh said it’s clear there’s a desire for a community space in whatever happens at the site. He said maybe the existing building could be kept, with a community space and possibly even CHARAS, but that without developing the air rights — for which he feels market-rate dorm rooms make the most sense — it would produce little revenue.
“We’ve tried to speak to some people in the community,” Marsh said. “We’ve reached out to CHARAS, and they said, ‘We’re not sure we want to talk to you.’ It’s important that the community see something there that’s positive and reinforces their vision of the neighborhood.”
Marsh said N.D.C. usually works in the public sector and for municipalities, not private developers, so the situation on E. Ninth St. has them in an unusual situation.
“What’s happened here is we’ve been placed on the other side of the table, and I cannot allow that to happen,” he said. “Our normal position is to work with the community to find solutions to community problems.
“If we are to develop something on the site, we have to be viewed differently than Gregg Singer,” Marsh emphasized. “One thing is clear, there is a very hostile feeling to him in the community. But should we move forward with the project, it is no longer Gregg Singer’s project; it is our project.”
He said N.D.C. has done 10-15 percent of the due diligence to assess whether they want to undertake the project. Asked when they’ll make their decision, Marsh said, with what sounded like a hint of relief, “It’s not too far in the future.”
‘Elephant’ won’t fly
Told that it was actually Singer, not N.D.C., who designed the building, Lopez said, “That’s fascinating. That proves our original suspicion that this was Singer’s original scheme.”
(Three weeks ago, Singer declined to comment on the dorm, referring queries to N.D.C., creating the impression that they designed the building and were driving the plan.)
“We are against this. I am clear. The community is not in support of this,” Lopez said. “This is an absurd proposal. It is clear this is scheme put together to bypass the community-facility provision and it is not going to fly.”
Lopez said the dorm is not, in her opinion, a community use because it would serve people from outside the city, as opposed to from the community. (A Department of Buildings spokesperson previously said a dorm does qualify as a community use, but that the department would have to review the plans before ruling definitively.)
Regardless, Lopez said, Singer won’t be able to carry out his plans.
“Until he sells that building back to the community he will have a white elephant in the middle of the Lower East Side,” she warned “He should sell it back to the community and cut his losses.”
Told Marsh was smarting from the e-mail blitzes, Lopez had some advice for him too.
“He needs to know that it’s not going stop,” she said, “because he’s just beginning to taste what this community is capable of.”
Bonds not a hit
Both Sanders and Connor told The Villager they won’t support Dormitory Authority bonds for the building, meaning there likely will be no bill, which is needed to issue the bonds.
“I think there is no project,” said Sanders. “I have communicated to all involved that for me to support the legislation for the bonding that is necessary, there would have to be three circumstances present: Community Board 3 and Margarita Lopez — who has a historic leadership role in this that I respect enormously — would have to support it and there would have to be a component for CHARAS.
“There are also issues about the size and use of the building. I’ve communicated that to the developer, N.D.C., and I think N.D.C. understands this is not going to go forward in its present form,” said Sanders.
Said Connor, “It’s astounding to me — the guy needs legislation and he hasn’t talked to me or Steve. The community’s against it. Does he think he’s wired or something with Pataki? I don’t see this flying at all, certainly not if it needs legislation.
“None of the schools around here seem to need the dormitory,” Connor continued. “I don’t think that’s an appropriate site or an appropriate project. They bought the building, but they should talk to the community to see if they can come up with something the community can become more supportive of.”
Dorm as a unifier
Leaders of the new Stop the Dorm/Save Our School group mostly live along Avenue B near the proposed dorm site. S.T.D./S.O.S. supports the old P.S. 64 building being landmarked and returned to community use as an arts and cultural center. The group has collected thousands of petition signatures the last two weekends in Tompkins Sq. Park.
Michael Rosen, who lives in Christadora House and developed Red Square on E. Houston St. in the late 1980s as well as some shelters in the neighborhood, said the primary fear is that a dorm of this size could cause the East Village to become a “strip mall” like Third Ave., where N.Y.U. dorms and a Cooper Union dorm are surrounded by generic chain stores like Pizzeria Uno and Starbucks.
The Christadora House is known for its spectacular views. Asked if the threat of losing his had factored into his opposition to the dorm, Rosen said, “It would be disingenuous of me to say that blocking views doesn’t have an impact — because obviously it does. But you can always move somewhere with a view. You can’t always move to somewhere with the beauty and the soul of this neighborhood. That’s irreplaceable. Once that’s broken, it can’t be replaced again.”
As a former developer, he added the apartments in Singer’s dorm design appear to have standard “S.L.C.E.” layouts — typical for one-bedroom apartments — and suspects they would sooner or later be converted to market-rate condominiums.
Ironically, when Christadora House, a former settlement house, was converted to condos in the mid-1980s, it became a symbol of East Village anti-gentrification backlash. Documentary photography and filmmaker Clayton Patterson’s video of the 1988 Tompkins Sq. Park riot ends with people throwing plants into Christadora’s lobby while yelling threats about “yuppies.”
Now the Christadora residents and community find themselves fighting the same battle.
“What happened is the neighborhood changed,” said Patterson. “And now we’re living in a different world. Now people are coalescing. These people are as much a part of the neighborhood as anyone else.”
Roland Legiardi-Laura, a director of the Nuyorican Poets Café, said preserving the East Village’s mix is what Stop the Dorm/Save Our School is all about.
“This community is everything to me,” he said. “That’s why I chose to live here. It’s one of the most unique in Manhattan. It has a profoundly creative mix, from the poor to the relatively well off, ethnically, racially. It has fed my work. We seem to always be at a tipping point, but we’re at a particularly delicate tipping point. A development like the dorm would tip the balance.”
Susan Howard, of Save CHARAS, said a big turnout to send a message that the community is against the dorm is planned at Board 3’s May 13 Housing Committee meeting, at 333 Bowery at 6:30 p.m.
