RED HOOK — The Administration for Children's Services has taken a step that could prevent a city-funded day care from closing as its landlord prepares to sell the building to another buyer, officials told DNAinfo New York.
Without city intervention, Strong Place For Hope Day Care, a nonprofit center located at 595 Clinton St. near the Red Hook Houses, may be forced to shutter if its landlord goes ahead with a deal to sell the building for $6.4 million.
The city, which holds the lease to the building where the day care has been located since 2012, has the option of purchasing the property for the sale price from owner Jacbel Realty LLC, school officials told DNAinfo New York in February
The day before the March 25 deadline to decide, Strong Place's executive director Lorraine Pennisi received a phone call from city officials with good news, she said.
The ACS, a city agency that contracts and funds early childhood education programs, had put down a deposit on the building.
"I felt it was like a miracle," she said. "A Good Friday miracle."
Officials are “exploring the viability of purchasing this building and has put down a refundable deposit," an ACS spokeswoman said in an email Thursday. She declined to publicly disclose the amount of the city's deposit.
"We are actively in communication with all stakeholders and are hopeful that we will be able to preserve daycare programming at this site.”
While the city's purchase of the building is not guaranteed, Pennisi remains optimistic and is encouraged by the step forward.
"I don't think the ACS would have put the down payment if they weren't intent on buying the building," she said Thursday afternoon.
The community and elected officials have been urging the city and Mayor Bill de Blasio to save the day care from closing. A petition to save the day care currently has more than 1,800 signatures.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said in a letter addressed to ACS Commissioner Gladys Carrión that he was "highly concerned about the future of this day care."
The school serves about 100 students between 2 to 5 years of age.
As a councilman, de Blasio helped the day care find a new location after it was pushed out of its original Cobble Hill home in 2004, school leaders have said.
