Forest Hills Stadium won’t be torn down to build condos after all, at least not yet. Members of the West Side Tennis Club voted 123-123 on Thursday night to reject a proposal to sell the former U.S. Open stadium to developer Cord Meyer for $8 million or so. (A two-thirds vote in favor was required for the sale to go through.)
What will happen next to the 1923 stadium is entirely up in the air. “We’re going to be exploring other options; that’s all we can do,” club president Kenneth J. Parker told the New York Times, while admitting no other options have been formally proposed as of yet.
Preservationists have proposed landmarking the structure (which would potentially open up the possibility of getting historic rehabilitation tax credits, a la Fenway Park). Other suggestions include playing a pre-Open exhibition tournament at the stadium, as other Grand Slam cities do, or making it the permanent summer home of the New York Philharmonic. Or they could just try to get Talking Heads to reunite.