City reaches deal to buy Peck Slip Post Office

The city has reached an agreement with the United States Postal Service to buy the site of the Peck Slip Post Office and turn it into an elementary school, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott announced yesterday. “The contract has not been signed, but we’re far enough along to announce it today,” Walcott said of the highly-anticipated project. According to DNAinfo, the city plans to begin the public review process for the new school site next week; the design process should get underway in December, though the Department of Education hasn’t yet decided whether it will renovate the current 70,800-square-foot structure or knock it down and start over. Kindergarteners slated to attend the new school will be housed in a temporary space in Tweed Courthouse beginning this fall, since the permanent Peck Slip facility won’t be ready until the fall of 2015. [DNAinfo]