The German School of Manhattan, which took the former Church Street School space at 74 Warren in 2018, is hoping to take over the former Park Preschool space, which is preserved in amber across the street after closing last August. The plan now is to add a small 4s program this fall either way, but if the school can enroll more preschoolers, they can justify taking an additional space.

As of this fall, the school will have a total of 50 kids at 74 Warren in grades kindergarten through 3. The intention is to go up from preschool to 5th grade. The Park Preschool space can accommodate 44 students. “It’s been on our bucket list to start a preschool — parents have been asking,” said Julia Stratmann, the school’s director.

Park Preschool closed after 31 years in that spot in 275 Greenwich (the entrance is on Warren) and over the decades it became a neighborhood staple. But parents have still not been refunded for tuitions they paid in summer 2020, nor have they heard word from the founders since the initial announcement. “Still waiting for the bankruptcy court’s settling of the case,” one parent told me. “So many parents (including us) are still so infuriated at how they collected as much as possible and waited for a week before classes to close. We’re hoping to get something back.”

When I received the announcement last summer, I reached out to Kevin Artale and sent him — quite literally — my condolences. “After 30 years this is not how I ever imagined things to end,” he said. “It is worse than death.”