CHARAS/old P.S. 64 saved: What’s next? Status update

BY BONNIE ROSENSTOCK | This past January, amid a collective sigh of relief on the Lower East Side, the former CHARAS/El Bohio a.k.a. the old P.S. 64 was bought by a “philanthropic entity with the purpose of returning the property to community use,” as announced by Denham Wolf Real Estate Services and reported in The Village Sun.

Six months have passed since that auspicious moment and local politicians, candidates and community residents have weighed in with their opinions and, in some cases, what they think the next steps should be once the building is safe and secure for use.

Councilmember Carlina Rivera said that she is following neighborhood advocates’ lead regarding what the future of the property — formerly home to a Puerto Rican-led cultural and community center — will be when it is returned to the community.

“While empty, CHARAS still towers over E. Ninth Street full of the potential that its founders saw decades ago,” she said in an e-mail. “I’m proud to join my neighbors to continue fighting to reclaim it as a gathering space. And our community’s coalition has worked hard to maintain CHARAS as an important symbol of the cultural heritage of the Lower East Side. With a transfer of ownership, I hope that through continued advocacy, CHARAS will once again be a space for cultural expression and a source of joy for all residents.”

District 74 Assemblymember Harvey Epstein, who is running for Rivera’s seat in 2025, added, “I am looking forward to restoring this community center for our neighborhood. This building has so much history, and with the capital investments, we can bring it back for residents to have robust nonprofit use.”

The 130,000-square-foot building at 605 E. Ninth St., between Avenues B and C, was bought by Aaron Sosnick. As the sole trustee of La Vida Foundation, Sosnick “quietly uses his foundation to support philanthropy in the arts, education, human services and community projects,” according to Inside Philanthropy. The former school abuts the Christodora House, at 143 Avenue B, where Sosnick owns or formerly owned a penthouse condo.

According to the Web site of SOCCC64 (Save Our Community Center CHARAS/Old P.S. 64), soccc64.org, the organization that fought for years to have the building returned to the community, “There is a great deal of work to do; to stabilize the building, develop plans for restoration, and raise the funds needed to repair the tremendous damage done to the interior of the building. The landmarked building has been stripped of all systems, interiors, as well as elements of the facade. Remarkably, the only intact room remaining is the former CHARAS office.”

CHARAS was evicted in December 2001 by developer Gregg Singer — who had bought the building three years earlier at an auction of city-owned properties — and the place has remained empty and deteriorating ever since.

Though Singer no longer owns the old school, he’s not completely out of the picture yet. He still has an active lawsuit charging that former Mayor de Blasio, the city Department of Buildings, Sosnick and “a conspiracy” of local politicians and activists, including Andrew Berman of Village Preservation, prevented him from redeveloping the iconic East Village property.

Andrea Gordillo, the Community Board 3 chairperson, who is also in the running for Rivera’s seat, praised SOCCC64 for its dogged perseverance.

“The sale of the CHARAS building, formerly P.S. 64, marks the culmination of a decades-long effort by the coalition,” she said. “For over 20 years, this dedicated group of residents has fought tirelessly, in a true David and Goliath struggle, to regain control of this important space. We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to them for their unwavering commitment to this cause. They never gave up, and thanks to their perseverance, CHARAS is finally coming home.”

To engage the community, at the Loisaida Festival, on May 26, SOCCC64 created a “vision board,” on which passersby could write on post-it notes what a newly restored community center should consist of. There was no shortage of ideas, including artist studios, youth resources, a senior center, open mic nights, creative arts therapies, a green roof and farm, and concert venue.

Deborah Aislanian, who graduated from P.S. 64 when it was an elementary school that went up to sixth grade and later became an artist, wants the arts to be recognized in the building’s future use. She recalled how thrilled she was to return many years later and exhibit at CHARAS.

“No longer a school, artists had studios to work in and there was an exhibition space,” she recalled. “It meant so much to me to come full circle in that building! How wonderful it would be for it to once again be a place for artists to create and show their work. A place for music to be played, art classes for adults and children. All shared with the community.”

For Lyn Pentecost, the art curator, visual anthropologist and co-owner of La Sala de Pepe, at 73 Loisaida Avenue (Avenue C), one of the East Village’s most pressing needs right now is affordable artist housing.

“I’d love to see a Westbeth-style project,” she stated. “To maintain the unique energy of our community requires that creators of tomorrow be able to set down permanent roots.”

Westbeth Artists Housing, founded in 1970 in the West Village at Bethune and Washington Streets, is New York City’s largest affordable housing community specifically for artists.

Activist Frank Morales, who describes himself as “a 75-year-old retired Episcopal priest presently engaged in writing my memoir and keeping cool!” proposed the idea of a vocational school offering various training for those who can’t afford college. In February 2023, he wrote an open letter on the subject to Mayor Adams, which, he said, “in deference to the wishes of SOCCC64,” was never delivered.

Morales, who grew up in public housing in the Jacob Riis Houses, said, “Poor and working-class youth and adults need such a place where they can improve their lives and prospects. I have no idea what the current thinking is, but I do hope it is something that benefits the communities for which the place was founded. I believe it is a good and positive option for the use of the former P.S. 64.”

Sarah Batchu, the first vice chairperson of C.B. 3, who is also running for Rivera’s seat, wrote, “The preservation and reopening of CHARAS is crucial for our community’s cultural and social fabric. Having launched and operated a transformative community space just a few blocks away [the Lower East Side Girls Club], I understand the scarcity of such resources in our neighborhood, where every space, including CHARAS, has been hard-fought for by local activists. Our community’s message is clear: CHARAS must continue its legacy as a hub for diverse programming in arts, activism, wellness and education.”

But for now, the final words belong to Quamid Francis, founder of Q Impact Solutions, who has been hired on behalf of the 605 East 9th Community Holdings LLC to oversee the development of the building.

“At this stage, the project is in its very early development phases,” he said in an e-mail. “We’re currently assessing the overall safety and health of the building, so there are no specific plans to share publicly at this time. The intention is to develop a community center that honors the history and prior use of the building while sustainably serving current and future community needs in the East Village, New York City and beyond.

“We are in the process of outreach to neighbors, elected officials and potential partners and stakeholders while some basic building assessment and stabilization is underway,” Francis said. “We are still some ways from any formal process for that outreach and subsequent planning, including any specific plans that might be shared.”

He said he would be happy to discuss the project in more detail once there is more concrete information.

“We hope to have more to share publicly in the coming months,” he said, “hopefully in conjunction with public presentations and meetings where we share the opportunities and challenges that we see and solicit input as broadly as possible.”