Real Estate

HALB Renews Bid for Woodmere Property

Hebrew Academy of Long Beach reportedly plans to pay $12M for former school building.


The Hebrew Academy of Long Beach (HALB) is one of two remaining bidders for the vacant Number Six School in Woodmere.

The Lawrence School District whittled the number of bidders from four to two, and a final decision could be made at the board’s next meeting Jan. 13, followed by a required public referendum on the bid, according to the Nassau
Herald
.

The Number Six School, at 523 Church Ave. in Woodmere, was closed in March 2009, in part due to declining enrollment. In 2012, HALB, an Orthodox day school serving children in grades one through eight, located at 530 W. Broadway, had bid $9.2 million to purchase the school property.  

But last year the district reached an agreement with another bidder, the Bronx-based Simone Healthcare Development, to sell the 6.6-acre property and 80,170-square-foot building for $12.5 million. Simone planned to lease the site to Mt. Sinai Hospital for a 60-doctor, 30-specialty medical facility, but the proposal faced community opposition and residents voted it down last March.

The most recent bidders, HALB and a yeshiva in Queens, have proposed to purchase the property for prices in the ballpark of $12.5 million, according to the Herald. Board Trustee Uri Kaufman said:  
 
“We have gotten it down to two bidders. We are leaning in the direction of one of them, but we sent the [district] lawyer back to both bidders one last time for clarification of their respective bids. Once he reports back to us — at our next meeting in January — we will be in a position, we hope, to make a final decision.”


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