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A long-shuttered former courthouse in Queens that the city sold for just $50,000 nearly a decade ago to build a medical facility can now be used for commercial and office space instead.
The board of the city’s Economic Development Corporation voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a change to the deed with the former Rockaway Courthouse, which has now been closed for 60 years.
The move allows the owner, Uri Kaufman of The Harmony Group, to lease the space to commercial tenants — a request he made for years.
The city approved the transfer of the courthouse building to Kaufman in 2013, and he officially purchased it in 2015 for $50,000, according to an EDC spokesperson. The low price was meant to allow for major renovation of the 1931 building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Construction and asbestos abatement was completed by 2020. Overall, Kaufman has spent around $11 million in repairs, he told THE CITY.
Kaufman said the courthouse was “one of the toughest buildings we ever did,” noting it originally had only one exit — so they had to construct an additional wing out the back for fire safety.
7 comments:
This is all Joe Biden’s fault.
They knew how to make nice looking buildings back then. The fact that it's been closed for SIXTY YEARS is just a bad joke.
Our court system is backed up for years and filled to the overflowing and has been that way since before COVID - why are we selling courthouses?
@#1 Troll get lost !
Why not sell them. Court cases could be done through zoom now. Outsource the judges to India the same as all other office jobs.
Rent a jury in Namibia.
If everyone had guns, we wouldn't need courthouses. Darwinism meets the Law.
What business would rent this space? It's not the easiest place to commute to.
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