NARROWSBURG, NY — The Narrowsburg Union, a multi-purpose campus located in Narrowsburg's former elementary school, has gone on the market for $7.5 million dollars. 

The listing, provided by SVN Deegan-Collins Commercial Realty, lists both the former school building itself, a two-story, 30,000 square-foot brick building at 7 Erie Avenue, as well as the school's former athletic field, a 14.4 acre space located on the other side of Bridge Street at Cty. Rd. 24. 

Kathy and Brendan Weiden bought the building for roughly $750,000 in 2015. Kathy Weiden confirmed to the River Reporter that the building is up for sale. 

According to the listing, "The assemblage includes four smaller parcels under 1-acre and a total of two residential houses. Altogether, these present a rare opportunity to establish a regional cultural, hospitality, recreational or mixed-use destination."

"The existing building is ideally suited for gallery, exhibition, hospitality and community-oriented uses, featuring large flexible rooms, high ceilings, wide corridors, assembly spaces, ADA-compliant accessibility, ample parking and outdoor gathering areas. The combined package could continue as a thriving arts and cultural center with minimal modifications or be redeveloped into a hospitality or mixed-use residential campus. The town has expressed support for adaptive reuse projects that strengthen the hamlet center and advance broader community planning goals," reads the listing. 

The Narrowsburg elementary school had a long and contentious journey before it became the Narrowsburg Union.

The Narrowsburg School saga

The Sullivan West School District formed in 2000 from the merger of the Jeffersonville, Youngsville Narrowsburg and Delaware Valley school districts (a separate district from the Delaware Valley School District still operating out of Milford, PA). 

When that happened, the district approved $5 million in renovations to the Narrowsburg Elementary School, and the building of a brand new high school. 

In 2005, facing a difficult financial situation, the Sullivan West school board presented the public with two options: a 23.6% tax increase, or an 18.81% tax increase that involved closing two elementary school buildings: the Narrowsburg elementary school, and the Delaware Valley elementary school in Callicoon. The board voted in support of the latter option at an April meeting, despite a community board recommending a different plan which involved keeping those buildings open and redistricting. 

Voters turned down the closure plan in a budget vote held May 17, 2005, with voters wanting more say in the decision and expressing concern about the closure's impact on the district's children. Still, the school board voted two days later to go to an austerity budget that had the same effect as the budget that got voted down. In June, the board held a final vote to close the Narrowsburg and Delaware Valley elementary schools and abolish 44 positions. 

The property lay vacant for years. In 2010, several interested buyers circled the property. The board voted in December of that year to accept a bid from Ilwon Kang, a New York City based real estate professional who wanted to use the space for tourism. 

Kang offered $700,000 for the Narrowsburg school building and $2.3 million for the Delaware Valley school building; however, local alternative energy activist Dick Riseling had his own bid, a proposal to turn it into a community center. Riseling held a petition drive seeking to force a public referendum on the sale of the building; while it got 1200 signatures, the school board dismissed it as flawed. 

The closing of the purchase stalled mid 2011, and Kang backed away from the deal later in the year. Another bid came early in 2013 as community group The Solution Project looked to use the space for the community's benefit, with potential plans to use it as a SUNY Sullivan satellite space or as a food hub or both. 

In 2014, a proposal emerged from siblings Joan and Robert Buto to open a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in the building. The board voted for the sale on June 20, to much of the community's dismay. A group of residents sued the school board following the decision, saying the board violated its fiduciary obligation and failed to conduct a fair, impartial and transparent process. 

Brendan and Kathy Weiden had submitted a competing bid that was slightly less than the Butos' bid; the Butos had bid $751,000, and the Weidens had bid $742,000. Buto petitioned the school in September 2014 for permission to assign the contract to the Weidens and, ultimately, that is what occurred. 

The school, rechristened as the Narrowsburg Union, opened its doors in December 2015. The Weidens have run it as a community space and a business center ever since.