Hollis leaders want abandoned buildings

Hollis leaders want abandoned buildings

Christie M. Farriella for New York Daily News

Michael Hargraves, pre sident of the Hollis Local Development Corp., stands in front one of the abandoned buildings on Hollis Ave. in Hollis, Queens. The buildings have been empty for 16 years, local leaders said, dispite community efforts to buy them from landlord Rita Stark.

Next to the scores of children enjoying recess at Renaissance Middle Schools playground is a brick wasteland that stretches for two blocks in Hollis.

In most of the dilapidated buildings on one side of Hollis Ave. between 202nd St. and 204th St. the windows are boarded up, shattered or cracked. Some have crumbling front steps. Others have walls cracked to their foundation. Weeds have taken over lawns and sidewalks, and trash is strewn in the back yards.

If it looks desolate and deserted, thats because theyve been abandoned for 16 years, said community leaders, who have tried in vain to buy the buildings from the landlord, Rita Stark.

On Saturday, they plan to rally against Stark to send a m essage that theyve had enough.

We have to act now, said Ernestine Alston, 79, who has lived in Hollis since 1959 and volunteers for both Hollis Presbyterian Church and the Hollis Local Development Corp.

The dilapidated buildings are a threat to kids who attend the middle school, she said.

Do we have to wait for something to happen to one of these kids? she asked.

Saturdays protest is intended to underscore how the stagnant site has thwarted local development, said Janet Jackson, also a volunteer for both organizations.

We want our children and our grandchildren to have a quality of life thats better than ours was, said Jackson, 68, a Hollis resident since 1964.

The Hollis Local Development Corp. has tried repeatedly to purchase the building closest to the school and convert it into a community center, said President Michael Hargraves.

Stark would not sell to the group because they werent sufficiently capitalized, said h er spokesman, George Arzt.

Stark is currently seeking funding to develop the site to house veterans and victims of domestic violence, Arzt said.

But local leaders were skeptical, noting that Stark is a real estate heiress with a notorioushistory of leaving properties fallow.

How can she know our purchasing capability if she hasnt had a conversation with us? asked Hargraves.

Stark is like a slumlord in a lot of ways, he added. The only difference between her and a slumlord is people dont live in the buildings.

Locals said they have had to deal with vice and vermin at the site for years.

Drug dealers, rats, mice, said Linda Yearwood, 26, who lives across the street and attended the adjacent middle school. Its a detriment to the neighborhood.

Serge Beloit, 50, who lives near the buildings, said its the citys responsibility to keep the neighborhood safe.

The properties currently have several open violations with the Department of Buildings.

jparziale@nydailynews.com