Newsday: Breslin Donates Parking Lot to Sacred Heart Academy

Controversial real estate developer Wilbur Breslin, who is used to battling environmentalists and community residents over what he can do with his properties, caved in recently to a group of high school girls.

Breslin owns a site in Hempstead next to Sacred Heart Academy. The girls used the vacant lot next door to the school to park their cars-a lot owned by Breslin. But the “verbal contract” between the school and Breslin expired, said Don Miller of the Blankman Group, a spokesman for Breslin. And Breslin wanted the property back.

According to Sister Jeanne Ross, principal of Sacred Heart, the girls were greeted with “authorized parking only” signs and were forced to park in the neighborhood. Then one of the girls got the idea to send Breslin a Valentine’s Day card, Ross said.

Breslin received 62 cards from Sacred Heart seniors. Miller said that Breslin, “being a softy,” decided to allow them to use the site until the end of the school year. Yet the school will have to pay for insurance in case the girls get injured on the site, Ross said.

For St. Patrick’s Day, Breslin received 62 “thank you” cards, Miller said. But will the girls be able to use the site after the school year? “I don’t know,” Miller said. “Perhaps until it is developed.”