A brand-new city-run preschool that was scheduled to open years ago is finally set to welcome tots this year — after a Post investigation revealed the site has been sitting empty for months.
The former parking garage at 403 E. 65th Street, which is leased by the city from a private landlord and was initially scheduled to welcome Pre-K and 3K students in 2024, will open to more than 100 students in September, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Thursday.
“For too long, parents across the city have faced a shortage of 3K and Pre-K seats in their neighborhood,” Mamdani said at a news conference. “The lack of early childhood education centers left families with two bad choices: either claim a seat in a neighborhood far away, or pay out-of-pocket for childcare.”
Mamdani even appeared to quote The Post’s exclusive reporting on the phantom school building — and local parents’ resulting frustration in the delayed opening — during his remarks:
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“While parents were forced to look elsewhere for childcare, they would walk past a solution to the very challenges that they faced, wondering why its doors remained closed,” he said. “As one mother said at the time, ‘It’s like a slap in the face every time we walk by.’”
The site will serve as the first standalone site of its kind in the zip code, and is expected to double Pre-K capacity and quadruple 3-K capacity in the posh zip code.