Bidding remains open

A little more than a year after the Lawrence School District put the Number Six School up for sale, Board of Education trustees have yet to finalize an agreement with a bidder.

“The board has been meeting with potential buyers and the process is moving forward very quickly and efficiently at this point in time,” said Superintendent Gary Schall. “However, at this time there’s nothing official, and the board is still considering different proposals.”

According to a source outside the school district, the latest bid was made by Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, in a joint venture with a Bronx-based developer, Simone Development Companies. Mt. Sinai’s bid is more than $12 million, which includes an estimated $600,000 for building cleanup. One school official said that the information about Mt. Sinai is “accurate and on target,” but declined to be identified or to offer any details. Calls to Mt. Sinai and Simone Development’s public relations firm, Thompson & Bender, were not returned by press time Tuesday.

Benjamin Weinstock, a partner in the Uniondale-based law firm Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, which is representing the medical group from Mt. Sinai, said, “It is a joint venture between a developer and a health care provider institution that is being considered by the school board.”

People who are involved in the process say that according to the potential plan, Mt. Sinai would use the now vacant school building for a multi-doctor practice. Based on unofficial estimates by a district official, that could generate up to $500,000 in school district property taxes.

The Number Six School, which was closed in 2009, is at 523 Church Ave. in Woodmere, a residential neighborhood off Peninsula Boulevard, near Branch Boulevard. As a school building, it is not zoned by the Town of Hempstead, but rather falls under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Education.

Once a bid is accepted by the school board, state education law requires a public referendum to approve the sale. If voters approve it, the building would then be considered by the town to be in Residence B zoning. A medical practice would require either a variance from the town’s Board of Zoning Appeals or a rezoning of the property by the town board.

“If it is the intention of the developer to reuse the existing building, then a problem arises because the [town] Building Department would have no record of the school building,” said Susan Trenkle-Pokalsky, a town spokeswoman. “The developer would have to first obtain a permit to maintain the existing building, and then file for permits for the proposed use.”

Three other bids

Other bids for the school include one by the JCC of the Greater Five Towns, for $9.1 million, one by the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, for $9.5 million, and another by an unnamed developer. The JCC, however, confirmed that it received a letter on July 15 from the school board. The district was returning the JCC’s deposit, but said it would retain the information on the bid.

“They are looking to do what’s best for them, and that’s understandable,” said JCC President Arnie Waldman.

HALB did not return the formal contract and has not recently communicated with the Lawrence board, said Executive Director Richard Hagler.

Schall said that the driving force behind the sale is the potential financial windfall for the district, similar to the sale of the Number One School. That property, on Central Avenue in Lawrence, was sold for $29.1 million in 2007. The proceeds from that sale were used to renovate district schools and for such amenities as the artificial-turf field at the high school.

“The board is looking to be fiscally responsible to find the best buyer and the highest bidder,” said Schall, added that the Number One School sale was the most lucrative per-square-foot sale on Long Island at the time.