Teatown Statement on Disposition of the Croft
- Teatown is a community-supported non-profit organization that, for the past 55 years, has protected open space and provided environmental education.
- Teatown purchased 67 acres in 2010 in order to secure and protect, in perpetuity, the green space that is at the heart of Teatown’s nature preserve. The Croft house and garage came with that purchase.
- We have spent nearly 10 years trying to find a practical use for the Croft that fits our mission, educational needs, and financial limitations.
- These years of research and deliberation led us to conduct a two-year, comprehensive Needs Assessment for our entire organization. As part of this assessment process, the Board commissioned an architectural firm to look at re-use of the Croft. Based on the architectural firm’s evaluation, the Board decided that there were higher-priority needs than re-use of the Croft.
- We are committed to environmentally responsive and fiscally responsible adaptive reuse of Teatown’s buildings and assets. The newly opened Teatown Environmental Science Center – created by renovating the Croft garage – is a key example of successful adaptive reuse that fit into our educational and program needs and our budget.
- At its June 19, 2019 meeting, Teatown’s Board of Trustees voted to move ahead with demolition of the Croft. We are committed to making every cost-effective effort to salvage those items deemed worthy of repurposing and then to bringing the building down in the most environmentally responsible manner, taking into consideration the safety needs of our visitors, our neighbors, and the wildlife that make our preserve their home.
Organizational Process
We are sharing the documents on this page so that you may better understand our organizational process, conducted over many years, that led to the decision by Teatown’s Board of Trustees on the disposition of the Croft. A number of interested parties – architects, builders, potential buyers – were given access to the Croft house to aid us in our consideration.
Please note on page 19 of the March 2018 Needs Assessment document posted here, we state that the renovation of the Croft (in and of itself) would not fulfill the high-priority needs identified by the Needs Assessment process. Please also refer to pages 44-46 of the Master Plan document posted here, detailing the architectural firm’s evaluation of practical options for the Croft and cost.
We recommend that you read the documents in the order they are listed.