"Families" Talk About St. Paul's

Paul Rabinovitch of Canus Corporation has joined the Committee to Save St. Paul's as its development partner.

The "Families for St. Paul's" recently held a gathering at The Garden City Historical Society Museum to meet the Committee to Save St. Paul's (CSSP) development partner, Paul Rabinovitch of Canus Corporation. Rabinovitch joined the CSSP team in November and has been actively working to amplify the CSSP/Canus plan for the redevelopment of the historic St. Paul's School. Canus Corporation is a highly regarded firm that specializes in historic preservation, adaptive reuse of older structures, and development in downtown areas. It has completed projects of the size and complexity of St. Paul's in Philadelphia, Northern New Jersey and Long Island (Brookhaven).

Paul Rabinovitch holds a unique master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, which combined coursework in real estate finance from the Wharton Real Estate Program with environmental planning courses at the School of Planning. His education helped form his enduring pursuit of sustainability, new urbanism and community oriented development. Through his professional career, Rabinovitch brings to the St. Paul's project a background in environmental protection and historic preservation. His ties to Long Island include living and working here during his ten-year tenure as executive director of the Long Island Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, the world's leading conservation and restoration nonprofit. He continues to serve as a member of the Board of Directors for the North Shore Land Alliance and Vision Long Island, a leading smart growth advocacy and planning organization. In addition to his position as a principal of Canus Corporation, he is also president of Terracycle Investments, a real estate redevelopment specializing in brownfields redevelopment and sustainability, and a consulting firm for environmental restoration programs.

At the meeting, the Committee to Save St. Paul's updated the "Families for St. Paul's" members and guests on the progress of the CSSP/Canus proposal, which is under review by the Village Board of Trustees Subcommittee on St. Paul's and its consultant K. Backus Associates. The evening's program was open to audience discussion of the proposal.

The evening's participants also began to share their visions for a community center at St. Paul's, a key component of the CSSP/Canus plan. Under this plan, 14,000 square feet of restored space on the first floor and the chapel on the second floor would be available to the Village of Garden City for a community center and senior center. Any resident who would like to share ideas with CSSP/Canus for public space at St. Paul's can do so by logging on the CSSP website, www.savestpauls.org. Please go to the "News" page and look for the link to the "Community Center and Senior Center Questionnaire," which includes a postal address and phone number for reply. While CSSP/Canus welcomes ideas, residents are reminded that these suggestions can only remain as potential uses for Village consideration until the Trustees decide to proceed in this direction, as proposed in the CSSP/Canus plan.

CSSP/Canus reminds residents to continue to remain attentive to the St. Paul's issue, voice their opinions to Garden City Mayor Peter Bee and the trustees, as well as Senator Kemp Hannon, and attend upcoming meetings of the Property Owners Associations and Village Board of Trustees.

CSSP/Canus is planning an open meeting for the community to meet and hear from Paul Rabinovitch, and will keep residents informed of this upcoming date. Any family members wishing to join the "Families for St. Paul's" can email Rachel at rcashwel@optonline.net or Arlene at happygigi@optonline.net.