The adaptive reuse of PS 186 in West Harlem shows what can be done when imagination and determination come together.
Through the combined efforts of the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem and its development partners, an abandoned public school has been turned into an anchor institution for the Hamilton Heights neighborhood. The adaptive reuse of the 114-year-old school provides two sorely needed services: an 11,300-sf clubhouse with an after-school program and teen center, and 79 units of affordable housing in a neighborhood that is feeling the negative effects of gentrification.