NY Public Library sells Midtown storage space for $40M to city for new HS

The New York Public Library has sold the Annex, a storage space located at 530 West 44th Street, to the New York City School Construction Authority for $40 million, according to public records filed with the city today.

The sale of the Annex, which housed materials from the library’s collections, closed earlier this month after Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council approved SCA’s plans to build a high school at the site.

The materials stored at the Annex, between 10th and 11th avenues, have been relocated to the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue and to the library’s storage facility in Princeton, N.J. Proceeds from the sale will be used for the Central Library Project, the Library’s ongoing program to efficiently and effectively organize library holdings and its resources, a spokesperson said.

The School Construction Authority was not immediately available to comment on its plans for the site but, according to the City Council website, there was a land use hearing relating to the application July 28. According to the council’s website, the SCA had proposed an approximately 1,400-seat high school.