Daily News from New York, New York • 39

rWH I IMi. i Jl MMi CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING IN THIS SECTION I MJ1ML US JL Wednesday, October 19, 1988 Too far up the E. Side? The Board of Standards and Appeals yesterday heard arguments for and against a "too tall" building on the Upper East Side that has soared 12 stories beyond the area's height limitations. But the board reserved a decision. The panel said it needed more technical information on the building at 108 E.

96th St before it could take any By DANIEL HAYS 111 t'VM action. The developer of the structure, Parkview Re-alty, seeks a variance to retain the 12 stories. Opponents however, say the excess floors should be removed. They cite the 19-story height limitations for buildings in the Park Ave. area as well as "environmental concerns." The matter was returned to the Standards and Appeals Board after a recent U.S.

Supreme Court dis- Daily News Staff Writer The owners of a debt-ridden Manhattan business school sought help from the Federal Bankruptcy Court in Brooklyn yesterday to stave off creditors and re-open the school. Charles Simpson, an attorney for Royal Business School, located at the Penta Hotel, said the filing of a Chapter 11 petition for reorganization effectively "stays all lawsuits and actions to collect debts." 6 rf'f-- st. ergitss reopening TOO-TALL building at 108 E. 96th St. Jay Siegel, an attor- missal of the developer's petition.

ney for the developer, said yesterday before the hearing St Sergius High School, the Russian-English secondary school padlocked three weeks ago by the Internal Revenue Service because of a overdue tax bill, will reopen under a deal worked out with the IRS. The school, on 83d St at Park was founded in 1959 to teach the Russian language and prerevolutioaary Russian culture and arts in addition to regular high school curriculum. "The students have been notified," said an elated Rev. Anthony Grabbe, who founded the school. "We dont know what time (we will reopen) because we are waiting for the IRS to come and remove the padlocks.

Jt may be (today)." Meanwhile, school officials will hand over a $35,500 check to the ERS today. That is what St Sergius owes under a new schedule of payments worked out with the intervention of Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan, according to George Lang, a trustee and a 1969 graduate. J.

Saunders that a Standards and Appeals board denial of a variance could be expensive. Altogether, Siegel claimed, the cost could be about $10 million. "To hire someone to knock it down would run $1 million to $2 million," he said. He added that it would involve numerous other costs. However, Genie Rice, the head of Civitas, the group that first brought the problem to light, pointed out that "had they obeyed the law from the beginning, they could have sold the apartments by now." The issue goes back July 1986 when, according to Rice, the Department of Buildings revoked a work order after it determined that the building was getting too tall.

But a "loophole in the law," Rice said, allowed the work to continue. The corporation counsel subsequently told the developer that any money put into the "12 illegal floors" was at the developer's risk. Keith Moore Royal's management is "discussing re-opening the school in the next day or so. The next step would be to secure the financing to pay salaries and rent," Simpson said. The school which teaches, computer programming, accounting, and other business topics to more than 300 mostly poor and minority group students from throughout the city has not held classes since Oct 11.

Simpson said the school is a "profitable enterprise" and there is $500,000 in tuition fees owed by Royal students but the operation is in arrears because "It couldn't pay off the staggering number of refunds that were sought" Royal is the target of a federal lawsuit in Brooklyn filed by the Center for Law and Social Justice of Medgar Evers College. The suit contends that the school fraudulently obtained tuition fees from students who were coerced into taking out loans. The class action on behalf of all Royal students contends they were promised training and jobs that the school never delivered. Because of refund complaints, the school lost its accreditation in August As a result the school could not obtain approval for student assistance loans under government progiam3. The majority of Royal student body is made up of students who finance their education with such loans.

Tuition runs between $4,500 and $9,500, depending on the choice of courses. On Oct 11, students who arrived for classes found the doors locked and a crude note saying the school was closed until Oct 17. Owner Claude Hoyte of Nyack has told state officials he is attempting to sell the school, but the Association of Independent Schools and Colleges, which would provide accreditation for any new owner, said they have not been approached. EvIdD sidta Sit By JOAN SHEPARD treated, affects millions of Americans but often goes undetected because people think it is merely a part of growing old, according to Mount Sinai. Biz seminar A free seminar on "How to Make Small Businesses Work" will take place from 7 to 9 tonight in the Schomburg Center, 135th St at Lenox Ave.

"Getting Started, "How to Reach Your Market, "Managing Inventory" and "Getting Loans" are among the topics to be discussed. For more information, call Yvette Moreno at (212) 669-3631. Famous women Dr. Mary Schmidt, the city commissioner of Cultural Affairs, will open the "Illustrious Women" series at 6 this evening in the 92d St Y. The five-part series also will feature New York Times columnist Anna Quindlen, photojournalist Jean-Marie Simon, New York City Jail Warden Janice White and sculptor Nancy Fried.

For information, call 996-1100. Hospital board The Community Board of Harlem Hospital will meet at 7:30 tonight in the community room of the St. Nicholas Houses, 220 W. 131st St. Tenants are hosting the gathering, an effort by the hospital board to meet each month among the people it serves.

Park fete The city Parks Department will mark the 53d birthday of Ft Tryon Park with entertainment, a cleanup and a raffle from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at Margaret Corbin Traffic Circle, Ft. Washington Ave. at 190th St Senior health More than 50 years old and your legs hurt? It may not just be old age but Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) severe leg pain that is especially bad when you walk.

A free test for PAD will take place today in the Annenberg Building lobby of the Mount Sinai Medical Center, Fifth Ave. at 100th St from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The disease, which can be Commission took action yesterday on another old New York hotel, the Knickerbocker, at 42d St and Broadway which was once the home of Enrico Caruso but now is the the site of garment district showrooms. The old Knickerbocker marquee came down in 1981 'when the owners, David Baldwin and Harry Helmsley.

converted the hotel into loft apartments. The apartment scheme was not successful and the building was converted into showrooms. The Landmarks Commission took additional action yesterday and designated the Bush Towers, at 130 W. 42d St, and also the Mechanics and Trademan Institute, at 20 W. 44th St landmarks.

tel," said Bob Quinn, a Sheraton spokesman. "We have not lobbied one way or the other on the issue of landmarking." The St Regis is one of the classic turn-of-the-century limestone buildings which are characteristic of Fifth Avenue architecture. Probably one of its most famous guests was Salvador Dali, who not only lived there when in New York but also gave well publicized parties in the hotel. When the hotel was closed last summer, speculation circulated that the hotel in a prime Fifth Avenue locationwould be converted into office space. "We are in the hotel business," Quinn said.

"We never said anything about office space." However, the Landmarks Manhattan Cultural Affairs Editor The Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday designated an old 42d St hotel building a landmark. But the commission postponed its decision on the designation of the St Regis Hotel on Fifth Avenue at 55th St "The action on the St Regis has been tabled," a commission spokesman said. The St Regis Hotel, one of New York's most famous Fifth Avenue hotels, is owned by the Sheraton Corp. and the Equitable Life Assurance Society. It was closed in July.

The Sheraton Corp. said it intended to renovate the hotel. "We have no position on the landmarking of the ho.