Council Speaker Julie Menin, Mayor Mamdani and Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal – c/o Mayor’s office
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After years of delays and a whole lot of parental frustration, the long-awaited early childhood education center at 403 East 65th Street is officially set to open this September.
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Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Thursday that the District 2 Pre-K and 3-K Center — which was first announced back in 2022 and was supposed to welcome students by fall 2024 — will add more than 130 seats for three- and four-year-olds this coming school year. That means quadrupling 3-K capacity and doubling Pre-K capacity in the 10065 zip code.It will be the first standalone, city-run early childhood center in the zip code.
“While New York City families waited anxiously for child care options near their homes, the last administration refused to move with the urgency this crisis demands and let the District 2 Pre-K and 3-K Center sit idle for months,” Mamdani said. “No longer.”
The 30,000-square-foot facility — a former parking garage leased from Friedland Properties — was actually completed in July 2025. It then sat unused for months under the Adams administration, even as neighborhood parents scrambled for spots in an area with notoriously few options.
As we reported last month, the Department of Education had seemingly walked away from the project without explanation, telling us and the New York Post that “no final decisions have been made on how this building location will be utilized.” One mother named Jennifer told the Post it felt like “a slap in the face” every time she walked by the finished but empty building.
The news is a sharp reversal from what appeared to be a dead end just weeks ago.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin praised the Mayor’s action while placing blame squarely on the prior administration. “Community Board 8 and I have been pushing for this center to open because parents were promised high-quality, accessible early childhood seats and they deserve nothing less,” Menin said. “I appreciate the Mayor’s quick action in opening this facility.”
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Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels called the opening a reflection of the administration’s priorities. “Early childhood education is the foundation for lifelong learning and success, and we’re working diligently to expand access across the city so that every family can give their child the strong start they deserve,” Samuels said.The announcement comes amid surging demand. Enrollment for 3-K in Manhattan’s District 2 jumped more than 121 percent between the 2022-23 and 2024-25 school years, and schools in the district have been reaching capacity at higher rates than in previous years. Upper East Side parents have been dealing with this crunch for the better part of a decade — back in 2017, roughly 300 children had to leave the neighborhood for pre-K after only 596 spots were allocated despite over 900 applications.
The Mamdani administration also announced that New York City will offer 2-K for the first time this fall, rolling out an initial 2,000 seats citywide with funding from Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Families have until February 27, 2026 to apply for Pre-K and 3-K seats. Applications can be submitted at MySchools.nyc.
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