The old P.S. 64, or CHARAS as it was known for the several years that it was a community center, has been abandoned since about 2001, when Gregg Singer won it at auction for a song. There has been some renovation activity, including asbestos-abatement work a few years ago in anticipation of possible tenants, but Mr. Singer has been pretty upset that he wasn’t able to easily turn the old school into condos, and then fairly furious that the city chose to landmark the building after he had bought it; he had apparently planned to tear it down. So he did some “construction” (destruction) on the dormers facing 10th street; he had an existing permit which had been in place previous to the landmarking.

http://evgrieve.com/2012/03/deed-for-community-facility-use-only-at.html

So the building still sits vacant; its only real tenants since 2001 have been rats and pigeons—which until recently had access through the windows on the fourth and fifth floors. Despite community efforts to turn it back into a community center, it looks as though it may be at the center of this tug-of-war until the building finally gives up the ghost.

And although the article claims the Keller hotel at 150 Barrow street had its last renovation activity in 2006, I’m almost positive I saw workmen there as recently as 2010; it is true that no work is currently being done, but I walked dogs in the building next door at 130 Barrow between 2009 and 2011, and at the time there were clearly workmen doing interior renovation. They told me they were going to turn the space into apartments.