City Agrees To Buy Private School Yard For Travers Park Extension For $ 6 Mil.

The city has agreed to purchase a private 29,000 sq.ft school yard (above) for $ 6 million dollars to expand Travers Park, located at the corner of 34th Ave. and 78th St. in Jackson Heights. The Garden School was set to sell the property to a developer for condos. Nearly half a million dollars was raised privately to buy the property. The school had over $2 million in debt last year. (Photo: Kirsten Luce for The New York Times)

Queens

The city has reached a long-awaited deal to purchase the yard of a cash-strapped private school to expand a popular Jackson Heights park, accoring to the New York Daily News.

The Garden School sold its more than 26,000-square-foot yard to the city for roughly $6 million, sources close to the deal told the Daily News on Wednesday.

The property will be used to expand Travers Park.

“It’s a deal that’s a win-win for everyone involved,” said City Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights), who has been pushing for the acquisition. “Jackson Heights has needed this open space for years and finally this dream has come true.”

The yard is to be connected to Travers Park by turning 78th St., between 34th Ave. and Northern Blvd., into a permanent pedestrian plaza, Dromm said.

The road, which runs between the two properties, is already closed to traffic in the summer.

Will Sweeney, a community leader who had been involved in the deal, said he was happy the land wasn’t sold to a developer — which is what the Garden School had originally planned to do.

“It’s a great moment for the community, because the alternative was terrible,” he said of previous proposals to erect high-rises on the site. The park land “will be enjoyed for generations of Jackson Heights families and residents.”

The deal stipulates that the Garden School, a nursery-through-12th-grade institution, will retain exclusive use of the yard until 4 p.m. on school days, Dromm said.

The yard will be open to the public in the evenings, weekends and when the school is closed.

The 89-year-old school, which is suffering from financial troubles, is also to receive a private loan to tide it over until it receives a check from the city.

The deal must still be approved by the city Controller’s office.

Garden School Board of Trustees members Michael Rakosi and Arthur Gruen declined to comment.

But some parents had threatened to pull their students out of the school if a deal with the city wasn’t reached.

And locals had pledged to loan the school almost $500,000 if the school sold the land to the city.

Dudley Stewart, president of the Jackson Heights Green Alliance, said this will help alleviate overcrowding at Travers Park.

“This will give us so much more space that we desperately need,” said Stewart, whose children often wait up to 20 minutes to use the play equipment at the park. “The playground is bursting at the seams.”

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City Negotiating To Buy Private School Yard To Expand Travers Park

Queens

A long-anticipated deal to acquire new park land in Jackson Heights is imminent, officials close to the talks told the Daily News.

The city has been negotiating with the Garden School for more than a year to buy the private school’s roughly 29,000-square-foot yard to expand Travers Park.

The park is one of the few open spaces in the congested area.

“I remain optimistic that we can come to a conclusion soon — one that will benefit the community and the Garden School,” said City Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights). “Everything is looking positive.”

The cash-strapped private school threatened to sell the rare parcel of open space in the congested neighborhood to a developer if the city didn’t cough up millions quickly.

That prompted community residents to offer to loan the nursery-through-12th-grade institution more than $250,000 until the city’s check cleared.

Parents had threatened to pull their kids out of the school if a deal with the city wasn’t reached.

Arthur Gruen, president of the school’s Board of Trustees, said negotiations are going well and that the school and the city are working out the details.

“We’re very close to a deal,” he said. “The deal has been agreed upon in principle a long time ago, but working out the language is a taking a long time.”

Joshua Laird, an assistant commissioner at the city Parks Department, said this has been a complicated multi-million dollar agreement to reach.

It involves a provision to allow Garden to use the yard exclusively during school hours, he said.

The land would be open to the public after 4 p.m. on weekdays, on weekends and in the summer.

It also involves a non-city loan to tide the school over until the city hands over a check, he said.

Before money changes hands, the property must first undergo a land-use review, which is expected to take about a year.

Residents hope to connect the yard to Travers Park by turning 78th St. into a permanent pedestrian plaza joining the properties. The street is closed to traffic during several summer months.

Local activist Will Sweeney said the neighborhood needs more park land because it is undergoing a baby boom and an influx of new immigrants.

“Jackson Heights has one of the worst ratios of persons to open space acreage in the city,” Sweeney said. And this is “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand open space.”

Read More:

Deal for more park land in Jackson Heights is close, officials say

City negotiating to buy Garden School yard to expand Travers Park

New York Daily News - March 13, 2012 - By Clare Trapasso

Jackson Heights Play Street Forced To Close Early By Private School

A Walk In The Park - Setember 15, 2011

Jackson Heights Community Hopes To Extend Travers Park

A Walk In The Park - November 28, 2010

Jackson Heights Play Street Forced To Close Early By Private School

A Jackson Heights play street was prematurely closed, after Garden School, a private school requested it - leaving locals appealing to the state to re-open the safe space. The community has been lobbying for more park space in the neighborhood for years. The play street was supposed to remain open until September 30th. (see poster below)

Queens

A play street that a park-starved Jackson Heights community fought long and hard to open up to the neighborhood this summer has come to a premature end, according to the New York Daily News.

The city reopened the stretch of 78th St. between 34th Ave. and Northern Blvd. to traffic unexpectedly last week at the request of a private school that borders the temporary open space.

The move left elected officials and community leaders scrambling to come up with a solution.

"I'm sorely disappointed," said Donovan Finn, a board member of the Jackson Heights Green Alliance, which oversees the play street. "This is a very popular community initiative."

The play street, where children ride bicycles and concerts are held, had been slated to run from July through September. The road cuts between the Garden School and Travers Park.

A Garden School official said closing 78th St. to vehicles posed a safety risk for preschoolers and kindergartners who are dropped off and picked up there.

"Having that street being closed to all traffic creates different issues," said Arthur Gruen, president of the board of trustees for the preschool through 12th-grade school. "It would create traffic problems on the street."

The road will revert back to a vehicle-free play street on Friday nights and weekends, a Transportation Department official said.

But that wasn't good enough for local leaders, who have been lobbying for more park space in the neighborhood for years.

"We are working closely with the Garden School and the Department of Transportation to come up with a solution that is acceptable to all," City Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights) said.

This isn't the first time the private school has come under fire on the issue of open space.

Garden has taken heat from community leaders and residents who would like the school to sell its yard to the city for parkland - a process that could take longer and be less lucrative than accepting an offer from a developer.

Read More:

Jackson Heights play street comes to premature end, school asks city to reopen

New York Daily News - September 14, 2011 - By Clare Trapasso

New Park for Summer

Jackson Hts. OKs push to turn street into 24-hour play space

New York Daily News - May 24th 2010 - By Clare Trapasso

Jackson Heights Community Hopes To Extend Travers Park

City Councilman Daniel Dromm wants city to purchase yard from a cash-strapped private school to expand Travers Park. Dromm secured $4 million in Council funds to buy the property and Queens Borough President Helen Marshall is ready to kick in an additional $1 million. (Photo: DelMundo for NY Daily News)

Queens

A growing community in western Queens could get the additional park land that local families and advocates have long been fighting for - if the city acts fast.

The city is looking into purchasing the yard of a Jackson Heights private school that just happens to sit across the street from Travers Park, according to the New York Daily News.

But officials are worried the city won't be able to come up with the $5.25 million needed to secure the Garden School's 20,000-square-foot property before a developer snatches up the prime real estate.

"This is an ideal location and it would be a dream come true for the community if we could make this happen," said City Councilman Daniel Dromm. "Jackson Heights is in desperate need of additional park space."

The Jackson Heights Democrat has championed the fight for more open space in the neighborhood, which has one of the lowest acreages of green space per capita, according to the Parks Department.

Dromm secured $4 million in Council funds to buy the property. Queens Borough President Helen Marshall is ready to kick in an additional $1 million.

The price of the property is still under negotiation, said Mark Daly, a spokesman for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. Even once that's settled, it could take up to two more years to go through the steps to acquire the property, he said.

Read More:

Long fight may pay off as city's urged to get lot for green space in Jackson Heights

New York Daily News - November 28th 2010 - By Clare Trapasso

City Councilman Daniel Dromm champions park space in Jackson Heights

New York Daily News -April 16, 2010 - By Clare Trapasso

Jackson Heights activists rip $1.7M plan to fix up Travers park

New York Daily News - September 24, 2010 - By Clare Trapasso