By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
EAST VILLAGE — The curtain may be rising on a former school building that has sat vacant on E. Ninth Street for nearly a decade.
The former P.S. 64, which the owner has proposed turning into a high-rise dormitory, is likely to land a nonprofit theater group as its first new tenant.
The Villager reported that plans are in the works to renovate the 1906 building's basement theater space for the unidentified group.
The owner, Gregg Singer, bought the building at an auction for $3.15 million in 1998 but caught flack when he evicted its last remaining tenant, a cultural and community center, in 2001.
Singer was vilified by many in the community for the move, as well as for stripping portions of the 1906 building’s façade in a reported attempt to stave off designation as a landmark.
Since then, only light construction work has proceeded at the site despite the fact that a stop-work order exists on the property, raising some eyebrows in the neighborhood over future intentions for the building.
Michael Rosen, founder of the East Village Community Coalition and a resident of Avenue B adjacent to the former school building, told The Villager he heard rumblings about the theater group touring the space this week.
The paper speculated that the owner — now identified as Hoffman Management, with Singer involved only as an investor — was using the potential tenant to unlock preservation-related tax credits for renovating the landmarked structure.
Neighborhood blog EV Grieve noted in its ongoing coverage of the development that a sidewalk shed was recently removed from the site on Ninth Street.
Representatives for Hoffman Management could not be reached as of press time, and Rosen did not return a call seeking comment.
