Children’s Aid Society Decides to Sell, South Village Landmarking Effort Amps Up
 Yesterday, the board of the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) voted to pursue the sale of its three Phillip Coltoff Center buildings on Sullivan Street between Bleecker and West 3rd Streets (read their press release HERE). CAS has said they will continue to provide nursery school programs for currently enrolled children until June 2012, “either at the Phillip Coltoff Center or another reasonable location.”
It is therefore unclear how quickly a sale might take place, or to whom.
However, the size of the site and the zoning for the area would make it particularly attractive to a developer of a high-rise community facility such as a dorm or other university-related facility.
The CAS buildings are located within GVSHP’s proposed South Village Historic District, the first third of which, west of Sixth Avenue, was designated in June. Two of the CAS buildings are over 100 years old, including one designed by Central Park co-architect Calvert Vaux, which was called out in GVSHP’s report to the city nominating the South Village for landmark status.
 The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) said last October that the first phase of the South Village Historic District would be followed quickly by action on the remainder of the proposed district. Fourteen months later, however, there has been no formal movement by the Commission, in spite of requests by GVSHP and dozens of other groups and several local elected officials that the Commission move on the remainder of the proposed district as soon as possible. With news of the possible sale of the CAS buildings, GVSHP again wrote to the Commission urging them to act.
YOU CAN HELP. Please write a letter to the LPC urging them to act quickly on the remainder of the proposed South Village Historic District now, especially in light of the impending sale of the CAS buildings in the heart of the neighborhood and their potential demolition and replacement with an out-of-scale high-rise building -- CLICK HERE.
Note: As a historic preservation organization, GVSHP is primarily focused on saving these buildings and preventing inappropriate development from taking place on the site. Those interested in the effort to continue the services which have been provided by CAS in Greenwich Village may want to reach out to SAVE A VILLAGE EDUCATION.
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