Developers, Officials Tour Garden Street

The doors to Garden Street School formally closed in June, but the building has seen activity since then.

At the last Brewster Board of Trustees meeting, Clerk Peter Hansen spoke about a recent building walk-through that involved private developers, as well as representatives from the school district and the Village.

Over the summer, Brewster Schools and the Village of Brewster entered into an agreement with Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, a Newburgh-based "nonprofit research, policy and planning group that promotes regional and balanced solutions to enhance the growth and vitality" of the region, according to its Facebook page. 

Hansen told Patch the organization is tasked with identifying the "highest and best reuse" for the building. Gathering input from developers is one aspect of the process.

Two development firms had toured the school by mid-September. The first, Hansen said, did not share much feedback, but the second "liked what they saw" and requested copies of the structural drawings for the 1920s-building.

Progress for Pattern is set to continue researching. The firm will take developer suggestions into account in a final recommendation report on Garden Street to Village and school officials.

Neighborhood blight, transit-oriented development and community development are also part of the Village package with Pattern.

Click here to read resident opinion on what should happen to the school.