Transformation in the Willowbrook Community

Built during the late 1930s in Staten Island’s Willowbrook neighborhood, the Willowbrook State School was a state-supported institution for children with intellectual disabilities. The school was originally designed for 4,000 residents, but by the mid-1960s had a population of more than 6,000 patients – making it the largest institution of its kind in the country.

A combination of rising placements, budget cuts, and ignorance resulted in the deplorable conditions Sen. Robert Kennedy famously compared to a “snake pit” after a visit in 1965. But it wasn’t until the early 1970s that the school’s abuse of its residents captured the attention of local and national audiences. In 1971, the Staten Island Advance published a series of articles detailing conditions. Less than a year later, Geraldo Rivera broke into the school using a stolen key and filmed a documentary segment for ABC exposing the squalor in which residents were forced to live.

Following the scandal, residents and their families joined civil libertarians and mental health advocates in a lawsuit against the state “to prevent further deterioration and to establish that residents had a constitutional right to treatment,” according to The New York Times. In April 1975, the parties reached a settlement: conditions at Willowbrook would be improved and current residents would be transferred to new homes. Despite intense opposition in some communities, by 1987, more than 1,000 former residents had been placed in more than 100 different homes.

In 1983, the state announced plans to officially close Willowbrook – by that time renamed the Staten Island Developmental Center. Two years later, construction began on four group homes for more than 70 former residents. Leonard Grunstein spearheaded the charge that resulted in the creation of the complex and negotiated a long-term permit with the state that enabled the creation of a park and ball field that, to this day, continue to benefit the Willowbrook community.

The shutdown of the Willowbrook State School helped transform the way mentally ill and disabled people are treated. In 1965, there were 26,000 mentally and intellectually disabled people in New York living in institutions and only a handful in community residences. By the 1990s, 26,000 were living in almost 5,000 community residences scattered across the state.

Pier 57 Redevelopment | Len Grunstein Acts as Financial Consultant

Three years after a fire destroyed the original pier at West 15^th Street in 1947, workers broke ground on a new structure – now known as Pier 57 – that still stands today just south of Chelsea Piers.

With fire safety in mind, the new pier’s foundation was made of concrete instead of wood. In 1954, Popular Mechanics touted the structure as a “Superpier” for its innovative design, which consisted of three hollow concrete boxes that could support almost the entire weight of the pier.

Built in a manmade lake next to the river, all three boxes were more than 300 feet long and weighed upwards of 20,000 tons. In July 1952, the first box was floated down the Hudson. Construction progressed quickly — despite an explosion and fire that killed two workers in March 1953 — and concluded in December 1954 with the pier’s opening ceremony.

To this day, Pier 57 remains the only pier in New York City built on floating concrete boxes. It was eventually sold to the MTA in 1969 and served as a garage and maintenance facility until 2003. In 2004, it earned the nickname, “Little Guantanamo on the Hudson,” after the NYPD used it as a holding pen for Republican National Convention protesters.

In 2012, Young Woo & Associates announced plans to redevelop Pier 57 with retail, restaurant, and other commercial spaces. The new shopping center, designed by LOT-EK, will include an “interactive marketplace” built with recycled shipping containers and will reflect the nearby Meatpacking District’s industrial, gritty feel. In addition to shopping, the new pier will be a cultural hub, with the public rooftop park serving as the permanent home of the Tribeca Film Festival.

Approved by City Council in April, the project was subject to environmental review by state and federal agencies and required approval under the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. Leonard Grunstein, who acted as a financial consultant for the project, helped negotiate the financing structure for the redevelopment, enabling the project to move forward with plans to begin construction in October and eventually open its doors in the spring of 2015.

UDC/ Hotel St. George & Subway Improvement Project

Built in 1885 at the former site of an inn with the same name, the Hotel St. George in Brooklyn Heights was transformed from a 130-room, 10-story building to a sprawling, multi-building complex by the 1930s. William Tumbridge, an English-born sailor who made his fortune on Wall Street as an advertising executive, originally owned the hotel.

Under Tumbridge’s tenure, which ended with his death in 1921, the hotel underwent several expansions – from the modest 130 rooms on Pineapple Street to more than 1,000 rooms by the turn of the century. Determined to compete with his counterparts across the East River, Tumbridge did not invest solely in property; he made his hotel one of the first to have electricity and an air-conditioned dining room. It also featured an indoor swimming pool.

In 1922, Tumbridge’s family sold the hotel to Bing & Bing, a luxury real estate developer known for its “stately, spacious apartments” and “elegantly detailed buildings.” Much like Tumbridge, the new owners quickly expanded, completing a new 31-story tower in 1930 that added another 1,400 rooms to the St. George and made it the largest hotel in New York.

In order to accommodate the ever-growing number of guests, the Bings needed more room and hired architect Emery Roth to design an addition over the subway stop at Clark Street in 1924. Despite the hotel’s expansion, the Bings sold the hotel in 1953.

In the 1960s, the Kennard Hospitality Hotel Group, which had purchased the St. George from Bing & Bing, was accused of neglecting the property. Over the next decade, the hotel fell further into disrepair as the rest of the city struggled in the midst of a deep financial crisis.

No longer operating as a hotel, the building’s lobby was redeveloped by the Urban Development Corp. in the early 1980s into the Clark Street station of the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue line. As a state agency, the UDC was exempt from paying taxes. Nonetheless, the agency required private developers involved in the project to pay an amount in lieu of sales taxes to then be used to fund public benefit projects in the community.

As an Assistant Corporation Counsel, Leonard Grunstein negotiated the financeable ground lease and structure that enabled redevelopment and conversion of the Hotel into residential apartment units, employing an analogue to J-51 tax abatement and exemption as the model for the in lieu of real estate tax payments.