The Gray Lady is getting a $10 million makeover.
The old Bronx County courthouse in Melrose – a bulky Beaux Arts structure nicknamed the Gray Lady – has been boarded-up for more than 30 years.
Several attempts to lease the space have fallen through since Brooklyn developer Henry Weinstein bought the building from the city in 1998.
Now, Weinstein and two partners have begun a major rehab of the century-old hall of justice, hoping the work will land them a big-time tenant at last.
“Finally, the sleeping beauty will be awakened and restored,” said Benjamin Klein, a Brooklyn mechanical engineer and one of the partners.
By May 2012, the stone behemoth at E. 161st St. and Third Ave. will boast new windows, elevators and mezzanines, plus modern electrical, heating and plumbing systems, Klein vowed.
Benjamin Klein, part-owner, plans to renovate the Melrose eyesore. (Florescu for News)
The partners plan to rent to a handful of tenants, probably as office space.
“We’re building a 21st century structure in a 19th century shell,” said Weinstein spokesman Fred Connolly.
The 82,000-square-foot courthouse built in 1906 sports soaring ceilings, granite walls, terrazzo floors and spiral staircases.
A sculpture of Lady Justice – without her usual blindfold – watches over the front doors, flanked by 40-foot-tall windows whose stained glass panes were looted during the 1980s. The exterior of the building has city landmark status.
It housed the Bronx’s Supreme Court until 1934, when a new courthouse was built on the Grand Concourse, said Lloyd Ultan, borough historian.
It spent decades as a criminal court, but was shuttered in the 1970s, as arson and gang warfare tore through Melrose.
Local community groups, including non-profit developer Nos Quedamos, hoped to acquire the courthouse. But the Giuliani administration quietly sold the Gray Lady at auction to Weinstein for $300,000.
Since then, Weinstein has received “nibbles” from potential tenants, and a charter school nearly moved in, said Connolly, who has spoken to bookstores and retail outlets.
The courthouse’s immense size and Melrose’s blighted landscape made it a hard sell. But the neighborhood is changing, with Boricua College‘s new, 14-floor “vertical campus” a block away, and more than 2,000 new apartments in the area.
“There’s a renaissance going on here,” said Abraham Cruz, vice president of Boricua College.
He called the graffiti-marred courthouse an “eyesore” whose rebirth “would give the community a tremendous boost.”
Weinstein, who recently scored a $16 million settlement from the state over his land being seized for Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards project, has the money, Klein the engineering know-how and Melrose the momentum.
The South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corp. is helping the owners apply for historic preservation tax credits.
“The time is right,” said Connolly. “If we build it, they will come.”
The partners are close to deals with The Bronx Defenders, a criminal justice non-profit, and a day care center, said Klein, though Robin Steinberg, the organization’s executive director, said it has yet to commit.
David Kopstein, owner of a furniture store across the street, would love to see a high-end supermarket at the courthouse.
Local resident Abu Diallo, 40, said any activity would be an improvement.
“Anything to create jobs,” he said.
