In fight to convert old school, Ivanhoe neighborhood group beats developer in court

An East Side neighborhood group has beaten a private developer and a city agency in court for the third time.

The Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council wants to turn the old Horace Mann School at 39th Street and Bruce R. Watkins Drive into senior housing. A city agency, the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority (PIEA), tried to condemn the building so that a private developer could implement a similar plan. Ivanhoe stopped the condemnation by convincing a judge that the PIEA made an insincere offer for the property, which Ivanhoe had purchased — a nice little strategy, as it turns out.