The Board of Trustees of the Children's Aid Society met yesterday to vote on whether to sell the historic Sullivan Street buildings that house its Philip Coltoff Center. Despite the late anti-sale intervention of Brooke Shields, the board's decision was unanimous: the buildings will be going on the market. (Some school programs will continue to operate through June 2012, and one parent has already filed a lawsuit to stop the school from closing.) There's no official listing yet, but an earlier estimate placed the value of the properties?including the 219 Sullivan Street building designed by Calvert Vaux and the newer spot at 177 Sullivan?between $20 million and $30 million.
The school promised families it would elaborate on its reasons for selling only if it decided to list the buildings, and that elaboration comes in a press release about yesterday's vote. The school's reasoning is simply that the Village has gotten too rich: "Median income in Greenwich Village is more than double that of Morrisania in the South Bronx...where we lack sufficient resources to meet the urgent needs of children and families." Village school parents are hoping to swoop in and buy the buildings before NYU can grab them, thereby handily proving the Children's Aid Society's point.
· Children's Aid Society coverage [Curbed]
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