By Jon Schuppe
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The fight over a 107-year-old school building in Hamilton Heights has deadlocked the local community board and sparked a petition drive by people who want to save it from the wrecking ball.
After a series of heated meetings in recent weeks, Community Board 9 has not yet made a final decision on whether to back a non-profit’s plan to demolish P.S. 186 and build a high-rise apartment building in its place. Votes by two board committees have taken opposite sides.
With a final decision by the community board still pending, preservationists have mounted an online petition campaign to demonstrate how much the public loves for the 1903 Italianate building on W. 145th Street between Amsterdan Avenue and Broadway.
As of Tuesday morning, 108 people had signed, a long way from the stated goal of 1,000.
The school was closed by the cash-strapped city in the mid-1970s, and it has fallen into disrepair.
M.L. Wilson Boys and Girls Club of Harlem bought the property in the 1980s with plans to restore it and use a large portion for non-profit use. But the costs proved too high, and the group changed its plans to favor a private development.
Some longtime neighbors want the building saved, even though it would be difficult and costly. Others argue that despite the developer’s promises to include affordable housing, those apartments would remain out of reach for most Harlem residents.
A local blog, with a decidedly pro-preservation bent, has been regularly reporting on the proposal’s ups and downs.
