By Matthew Monks
At the urging of Community Board 5 and City Councilman Dennis Gallagher (R-Middle Village), the Buildings Department will review United Talmudic Seminary's plan for a new facility at 74-10 88th St., even though the city has granted the organization a construction permit, said Ilyse Fink, director of communications for the city agency.
“We're going to take a look at the plan and the configuration,” Fink said. “Clearly this is something of concern to the community.”
But the two land uses causing most concern – the so-called “transient hotel” and trade school itself – are permitted under the area's light industrial zoning, she said.
According to the Building Department, the Brooklyn-based seminary is making a 227-square-foot addition to the one-story former textile factory, which used to house the Monarch Knitting Corp.
Board 5 District Manager Gary Giordano, who has reviewed the plans, said a 33-room hotel capable of temporarily boarding 100 people is slated for the property.
The plan “has sent alarms in the community,” Giordano said. “Very seldom does anyone want to see any kind of hotel, never mind calling it a 'transient' hotel,” he said.
Units in a transient hotel lack a kitchen and are intended for short-term stays. A Holiday Inn is one example of such a hotel, Fink said.
The seminary did not return several phone calls or respond to a written request for an interview. A public relations official at its Williamsburg office said officials would only respond to written questions sent by fax.
Residents like Michael O'Kane from 88th Street who do not mind a new school are appalled by the prospect of living near a hotel.
“It's already a congested neighborhood,” O'Kane said. “No one wants this thing. No one in this neighborhood.”
He said the seminary has failed to reach out to residents by asking them for their input. He is filled with questions about the facility. For instance, he asked, if the school closes, will the hotel remain?
CB 5 member Dorie Figlioli, who is also president of the 74th Avenue Block Association, has questions about whether the seminary is adhering to its building permit that allows for partial interior demolition. She said an entire side of the building has been razed.
She objects to an inclusive school in her neighborhood, saying that its students will congest the area with more traffic, yet not give little back financially.
“We need schools that everybody can go to,” she said. The yeshiva school students are “not going to shop in the stores over here. They are not going to get their hair cut around here. They're not going to eat in the Italian restaurant across the street.”
The seminary spokesman said the school has been flooded with calls about the Glendale facility and the board of directors has ordered that all information requests be submitted in writing.
Its Manhattan-based architect for the Glendale project, Karl Fischer, also failed to return several phone calls.
Reach reporter Matthew Monks by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
