What Will Become of the Remsen Wallflower?
Despite its prime location, 186 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights has been available for lease since its last tenant, an adoption agency, moved out more than five years ago. Locals say it’s because “the building is a wreck” and is priced too high. Robert Oliver of the Joseph P. Day Realty Corporation said owner Larry…
Despite its prime location, 186 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights has been available for lease since its last tenant, an adoption agency, moved out more than five years ago. Locals say it’s because “the building is a wreck” and is priced too high. Robert Oliver of the Joseph P. Day Realty Corporation said owner Larry Wohl is looking to lease the 35,000-square-foot, late-19th-Century building to a single tenant for $1 million annually. At $28 per square foot, that would place the building in the Class B market if it were well-maintained, but people who have been inside called it “raw space” and “garbage-looking.” One real estate insider said 35,000 square feet is “stretching it,” and that “the economics for renting it as office is very bad.” Indeed, Property Shark said the building is 25,000 square feet.
The insider said neighboring St. Francis College unsuccessfully offered to buy the building. And another Heights resident thinks the building would be an ideal annex for P.S. 8, which recently cut its Pre-K program and is still overflowing with students. New condo development nearby such as One Brooklyn Bridge Park would only increase demand on the school, the worst-case scenario being trailers in the playground, said the resident. But the insider doubted bringing the building up to the strict elementary school code standards would be economically feasible at Day’s price.
The Franklin Building [An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn]
186 Remsen Street [Joseph P. Day] GMAP
Why do you say that 1:11 (if you’re talking to me)? I’ve never claimed to live anywhere other than BH.
All the talk about the turnaround at PS 8 never gets to the fact that the school has gone from being mostly non-white and mostly very poor to what it is today-a school where whites are the largest racial group and growing every year(as per DOE site-32 of 36 pre-k kids are white)and where today, less than 30% of children qualify for free lunch versus the vast majority just 4 years ago.
There was a tremendous infusion of resources into PS 8–public money, DOE personnel resources and lots of hard work by parents and administration. I do not believe that the children that need the most are sharing equitably in this “turnaround”
I think that it is great that there is another good public school option, but I think though it is necessary to reflect on what happened at the school and who benefited.
geeze you live every where.
12:45, since I live closeby, I was interested in the building you referenced that was demolished. I found this link. Definitely a shame it wasn’t protected and I think 186 Remsen above has the potential to be restored to look quite attractive. I really hope it sticks around.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/28/realestate/28scap.html
The old college library building right next door was stunning and very historic. What kind of college would tear down its most histoic building to build something perfectly ordinary? It is a shame the landmark’s commission or the community could not have stood up to the college. Now this building looks like a goner too.
Sorry, that should read, “East of Clinton St.”
The blocks east of Remsen St. (north of Joralemon St.) are mostly out of the historic district. Thanks in large part to the lobbying of St. Francis in the 60s.
This was probably once a handsome building although you would not know it today. There was a really beautiful building next door to this that I always admired but the college tore it down for its new library about five or six years ago. If the landmarks people didn’t mind the demo of that building, which was really unusually graceful, I can’t imagine they would have any objection to the demolition of this one.
They are still more than 75 students BELOW capacity
Without the separate science lab, pre-k spaces, etc, there is room for 3 classes per grade. It’s fine for a while. People taking about trailers, etc are just TALKING and clearly about something they don’t know anything about. Listen, more space would be great, but as plenty of schools run way OVER capacity, this is just not an issue at this school as far as the city is concerend.