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P.S. 150 Is Losing Its Lease
If at first you don’t succeed…. The city tried moving P.S. 150 from Independence Plaza to Chelsea in 2013, but it backed down when faced with serious opposition from parents. Now it has a better excuse: Vornado Realty Trust, the majority owner of Independence Plaza, is declining to renew the lease. Consequently, the Department of Education is considering moving the school to Peck Slip School for three years, starting in the fall, after which it will move to the building under construction at 77 Greenwich (a.k.a. 42 Trinity Place).
This certainly adds more fuel to the fire that big changes are in store for Independence Plaza….
UPDATE: I got cute with the lede, but as a reader points out, there’s a fundamental difference between 2013 and now: This time, the city would prefer P.S. 150 to stay where it is.
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Apparently they are also kicking Best Market out as well… or so is the understanding / talk around PS150.
Actually Best Market had a short lease… the rest of Food Emporium’s time. It was never solid that they would stay. I think it was kind of an experiment for Best market. The rent will be too high after the long lease with FE .
What’s next, WALMART?!! Protest LOUD, neighbors!!
Hmmm. Can Peck Slip absorb an entire other school into its building? That seems like a bad idea for the students of both schools.
It’s an extremely small school. One class per grade.
Even an extremely small school requires at a minimum 7-8 classrooms plus space for staff. It’s a significant imposition on Peck Slip.
Peck Slip is under enrolled. The building is huge so I don’t think absorbing 150 is a problem, logistically speaking.
Peck Slip already doesn’t have enough play space and has to use the street in front. This will negatively affect Peck Slip which is currently a gem in Lower Manhattan.
Maggie, the Peck Slip principal, sent an email saying that the Pre-K program may be sacrificed to move 150 to the building. Stupid and short-sighted.
The move was decided by DOE, not PS 150. Do you think the parents and kids want to move from their lovely and small school in TriBeCa to another neighborhood (FiDi) – at least 20 mins extra walk for many – and share the space with another school? If it was up to PS150 community, they would stay in place until permant school space (Trinity Place) is built and ready. I don’t think parents of one school should be up in arms against the parents on another school, but rather call on the landlord (Vornado) to do the right thing and let the school renew lease and stay for 4 more years.
It’s a very sad commentary when a corporation’s desire for profit trumps the existence of one of the top public schools in the city. It’s a public corporation. Protest loudly.
Totally agree!!! Taking away from community is really bad form especially when our are raking in the rent from people. Greed. Years ago real estate often gabevbsck to the community. But now greed has reached unhealthy heights. A sad reflection… a horrible reflection on life in the 21st century.
Everyone who supports the school staying and has time should go to the CB1 meeting on Tuesday 10/9 6pm. https://www1.nyc.gov/site/manhattancb1/meetings/committee-agendas.page
the unwelcoming views by some Peck Slip parents and Staff upon the possibility of PS150 going there reminds me of how unwelcoming other schools were to students, staff, and parents when PS234 had to relocate while the school was being cleaned and the area was not safe. Human nature is so selfish and uncaring sometimes; sad. I hope PS150 can remain where it is for the sake of everyone, especially those territorial minded folks. In the Meantime, Vornado and Stellar Management continue on their quest to think of ways to amass as much money as they can without regard to neighborhood services and using empty retail spaces to claim losses on their taxes. Shame on them.
Manny I totally agree!!! Its awful! Stella, Vornado whatever you want to call them have no regard for anyone, tenants, neighbors etc. Our supermarket is next to go. The block will be dark and quiet. They get away with total corruption for tenants and neighborhood. They did work on terraces without even checking to see if the debris was safe. Someone should investigate that!
Stellar and Vornado should be ashamed of themselves! This is is pure greed and priority of share holders over the kids and families of our community. The amount of empty retail spaces on Greenwich st that they have been receiving Huge Tax Vacancy writeoffs, shows proof of their main interest of saving money! Landlord claims they want to use the PS150 space for IPN residents is a straight sham and they do not care about anything but their bottom line.
I am shocked that the Mayor and Alicia Glen are not fighting Vornado and Steven Roth tooth and nail on this. This is not completely private property! The area was taken by the city via eminent domain, demolished, and then rebuilt as IPN. Surely a good lawyer can fight a way to sue everyone and keep the school there. If anyone wants some good lawyers on land use, I know three.
Is this supposed to be sarcasm?