Politics & Government

Local Company Purchases Pleasantville Rec Center

The Bedford Road building dates back to 1897 and its new owner plans to preserve its history.

The Village of Pleasantville hasn't occupied 359 Bedford Rd. since 2007, but just as its recreation department found a new home on Marble Avenue, the former rec headquarters has picked up a new owner.

Monday, the Board of Trustees voted the 1897 building as being "no longer needed for municipal purposes" and approved the sale of the currently unoccupied structure.

"...the village moved out of it both for reasons of maintenance and also because the space was really not working very well for the Rec Department as it stood," said Mayor Peter Scherer. "It has certainly been one of our primary goals in the course of all of this to preserve that historic building both because it’s a big piece of Pleasantville history and it’s a big piece of what we all know to be a very well-preserved turn of the century street on Bedford Road.

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McCormack General Contractng of Pleasantville has purchased the structure $100,000 following what Scherer described as "multiple rounds of efforts to sell it and extended conversations with lots of potential buyers."

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According to the mayor, the company has already paid a 10 percent down payment that has been moved into a village escrow account. The sale will put the building back on the village tax rolls.

"Mike McCormack came forward with the best of the offers that we received and we had at least one other offer in writing and a number of people conversing," Scherer said. "Mike is known to many Pleasantvillians...[he has] a great track record as a person and a a contractor. They are tremendously excited about that project."

As part of the sale, he said the building must be preserved and cannot be torn down by the current owner or any afterward without permission from the board.

The contract also "requests [McCormack's] prompt action," said Scherer, "Which he is happy to deliver."

The building is zoned for a one or two-family home. Scherer said the company plans to remain compliant with such a use, but has not yet decided whether it will be a single-family or two-family home.

"For the first time in a long time, I think we can have confidence that the 1897 landmark will remain where it is for a good long while," said Scherer. "I am very, very optimistic about the future of this building in these good hands."


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