A Lower East Side-based nonprofit organization with a focus on education has sold a longtime Park Slope early childhood center to an anonymous private buyer for almost $13 million, city records show.
University Settlement, whose offerings include mental health and wellness services as well as programs focused on early childhood to older adulthood, is parting ways with 71 Lincoln Place. The 3-story building between Fifth and Sixth avenues for 13 years has been home to the Park Slope North Early Childhood Center, according to a deed that appeared in the city register Monday.
Established in 1886 as the first settlement house in the country, the Eldridge Street-headquartered University Settlement sold the roughly 22,000-square-foot building to an entity called Lincoln Place Property Owner LLC for $12.6 million, records show. Melissa Aase, CEO of the nonprofit, signed the deed on behalf of the seller.
The identity of the new owner is unclear. Jay Levinton, a partner at Midtown-based law firm Seyfarth Shaw, which represented the buyer, did not return a request for comment by press time.
Aase said in a statement to Crain’s Monday that the decision to sell the center, built in 1972 and purchased by University Settlement in 2012 for an unknown amount, was difficult but one that ultimately became necessary in today’s “incredibly volatile and difficult financial environment for nonprofits.” She specifically cited the extensive delays in payments owed through city contracts as a financial burden.
City Councilwoman Shahana Hanif, who represents the area, said last month that the Park Slope North Early Childhood Center was just one of many at risk of shuttering because of such delays.
“Sadly, this is not an isolated case — childcare providers across our city are facing the same crisis.” she said in a post on social media.
The last day for programming at the Park Slope North Early Childhood Center is scheduled to be Aug. 21. It will not open in a new location. Cash from the sale, which did not require approval from the state despite University Settlement’s nonprofit status, will go toward the organization’s larger reserve, Aase said.
