This longtime local eyesore is looking for a new lease on life.
A hulking former East Village public school is pitching itself for commercial use. PS 64, which has sat vacant for more than 20 years, appeared for sale or lease on the website LoopNet this month. The listing, held by Corcoran’s Paul Wexler and Josef Yadgarov, does not offer a price and includes only renderings of the property — itself in a state of decay — reimagined as a move-in ready campus complete with pool tables in the courtyard and a movie theater somewhere within its 152,000 square feet.
The listing gives the square footage of all six of the blighted building’s floors — and notes that its condition is “shell space” and states that it is available now, with the rate available “upon request” for a “negotiable term” for office or medical uses.
After the building stopped being a school in 1977, the CHARAS/El Bohio Community Center took over, but was allegedly evicted in 2001 by landlord Gregg Singer, who bought the behemoth from the city for $3.15 million at a 1998 auction, EV Grieve reported.
Since then, there have been repeated calls for the building to become a community center once more, but Singer — who has now been ensnared in various building-related legal issues involving a lender, the de Blasio administration and a hedge-funder alike — has instead attempted to make the building into college dorms and a medical facility. However, there are various open Department of Buildings fines, violations and a 2015 stop work order.
“The redevelopment and historic restoration of this century old landmark, former New York City elementary school, can be transformed into a variety of modern, amenity-rich opportunities,” says the listing, which adds student dorms, an assisted living facility and a medical center are among possible uses.