The proposal by the nonprofit organization National Development Council and developer Gregg Singer to build a 23-story university dormitory on E. Ninth St. at the former site of the CHARAS/El Bohio cultural and community center has sent shock waves through the East Village.
The intense opposition to the project has centered on several factors: the building’s height, the fact that it is planned to be home for 700 to 800 students and its proposed location on the site of the old P.S. 64, which the project’s opponents are now asking to be landmarked.
Meanwhile, some, including Councilmember Margarita Lopez, want to see the building returned to CHARAS/El Bohio, which was evicted two years ago by Singer, following his purchase of the building at an auction of city-owned property in 1998.
Basically, it’s abundantly clear that Singer and the community don’t agree on what this site’s future should be.
For five years, Singer has been unable to rent the existing building to tenants with uses allowable under its community-use deed restriction. He claims Lopez and Community Board 3 have scared off potential tenants, and that Lopez has threatened she’ll block funding to nonprofits that try to rent space in the building. Unable to fill the building, he says he’s been left no option but to develop a new dorm.
A good amount of the opposition seems based on the fact that such a large dorm would bring in a big population of students. There are fears of what some label the “strip-malling” of the East Village, as they say already exists around the N.Y.U. and Cooper Union dorms on Third Ave., with chain restaurants and shops like Pizzeria Uno and Starbucks.
In short, it seems that for progress to made on the future of this site, either one way or the other, there needs to be some dialogue between Singer and N.D.C. — or whatever other nonprofit he may bring in — and the community, meaning Board 3, Lopez and CHARAS, since relocated to East Harlem.
N.D.C. needs tax-exempt state Dormitory Authority bonds to build the project, but without Assemblymember Steve Sanders and State Senator Martin Connor’s support, the bonds won’t be issued. To N.D.C.’s credit, Daniel Marsh, the group’s regional manager, now says a community component would be included in any project they’d do on the site. At least Marsh seems to be listening to the community.
Perhaps there’s some hybrid plan for this site that could work. A cultural center with maybe some dorm rooms — but not 800 — to provide revenue to cover operating costs, and a shorter building more in harmony with the low-rise East Village, might be a good starting point.
Singer — who doesn’t plan on selling the property — says the community must come up with a plan that works economically for him to consider it. Right now, the community’s position is that it vehemently opposes the current project. But the community has to take another step and make a realistic proposal for what to do with the building. Because, right now, the old P.S. 64 is just deteriorating more day by day and a solution is not getting any nearer.
