Music School Building on the Chopping Block?!

By Melinda Holm

It was stunning to learn that the Greenwich House Music School building on Barrow Street is up for sale. Founded in 1905 by Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch, the school offers classes in a variety of instruments including piano, guitar and violin; classes in voice and composition; as well as rehearsal and performance space and grants to emerging musical artists. It has provided the community a venue for holiday parties, readings, block association meetings, weddings, memorials and children’s summer camps. It has enriched the local soundscape with music. In short, it has played a vital place in community life for 121 years.

New York‘s not-for-profit law, N-PCL, was put in place to protect assets from mismanagement or insider dealing and to ensure proceeds are reinvested in the nonprofit’s mission, requires the New York State Attorney General’s approval for the sale and a detailed explanation of how the sale will benefit the organization.

Various reasons are cited for the sale:

• millions in upgrades

• expand facilities and improve functionality

• create a music school of the future that is fully accessible and custom built with modern classrooms, practice rooms, and a concert space.

Over 20 alternate locations have been explored and have not worked out. During the June 17 town hall Zoom meeting about the Music School, management seemed to be confident that a New York City building ─ or a building foreclosure ─ can become available. Management also believes that more government money is available to gut and rebuild rather than renovate an existing building. It is unclear if any effort has been made to raise money to renovate the existing building. It is equally unclear what the quoted $20 million in renovations would cover and whether there were competing bids. However, a call to the Department of Buildings (DOB) on July 1 revealed that nothing is currently required of the Music School.

Installing an elevator and a new heating and cooling system are part of the quote. However, there is ample classroom and program space on the ground floor of the double brownstone for those who have difficulty climbing stairs. Moreover, a recent memorial for the beloved director of 25 years, BC Vermeersch, brought an overflow crowd to the second floor concert room on June 30, a very hot day. The air conditioning worked just fine.

Walking to that memorial was heartbreaking as it felt like a last hurrah for our beloved Music School in that amazing space. Once it’s gone, it cannot be replaced. It’s a tragedy that a local nonprofit is run by people who do not live in the neighborhood and don’t have a clue about how important such cultural institutions are to the life of a community. It’s also a tragedy that a new leadership team and board can come in and willy-nilly sell an irreplaceable asset.

Why would a nonprofit sell an asset that will never be able to be replaced? Is it because Greenwich House has lost momentum for fundraising and needs money? And why was the community not given the courtesy to comment?

Questions to Greenwich House and the board.

I sent the questions below to Greenwich House and its board for this article on July 1. Unfortunately, there has been no response prior to publication, despite a repeated request on July 15. In all fairness, there have been recent leadership changes in both Greenwich House and the Music School. The executive director of Greenwich House left in April and the director of the Music School left the week of June 30. Both positions remain open.

When a neighborhood resource as important as the Music School is put on the chopping block, the community deserves to know these answers.

1. What was the process that led to the decision to sell the Music School double brownstone at 46 Barrow St.?

2. Of the $20 million contractor bid, how much of that is for necessary repairs to preserve the building’s integrity? How much is for added amenities such as a new heat and cooling system, elevator, etc.?

3. What does the Department of Buildings actually require be done? (As it turns out, nothing per my telephone call to the DOB on July 1.)

4. What community input, if any, was there in the decision to sell the building?

5. Who made the decision?

6. Please share some elements of the vision of a music school of the future.

7. It was expressed at the town hall Zoom on June 17 that more government monies are available to build a new school from the ground up versus renovating an old building. Was that the deciding point?

8. People employed by Greenwich House for fundraising and the board would usually have fundraising as the main focus of their job description, objectives, and activities. Has any fundraising been attempted to renovate the existing music school at 46 Barrow St.?

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Melinda Holm is a longtime resident of Barrow Street.