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Church closures a boon for real estate developers
By Joe Anuta
Crain's New York Business
November 04, 2014
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20141104/REAL_ESTATE/141109969/church-closures-a-boon-for-real-estate-developers#utm_source=Daily%20Alert&utm_medium=alert-html&utm_campaign=Newsletters
Real estate investors are likely to cast a longing eye on 19 churches that the Catholic Archdiocese plans to shutter, only a handful of which are encumbered with landmarking restrictions.
The Archdiocese of New York’s plan to consolidate 37 parishes in the city could prove a boon for real estate developers—especially since most of the properties set to be vacated are not landmarked.
As part of a large-scale restructuring that first came to light late last month, the archdiocese will cease services at 19 churches in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island and will integrate those parishes with 18 others in the city.
Those individual parishes will decide what to do with the unused buildings in the short term, according to the archdiocese, but both the archdiocese and the parishes will likely decide to sell at least some of the parcels eventually.
As of now, there would be little impediment to their development. Only two of the churches set for closure are landmarked, with one more calendared for consideration. That means it is protected until the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission makes a decision.
In some cases, the church has campaigned against the landmarking of archdiocese property. Take the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District for example. A number of representatives from Catholic churches and organizations opposed the inclusion of the Church of the Nativity at 44 Second Ave. in the historic district. In the end the commission voted to do just that, neatly carving the property out of the district.
In recent months developers have repeatedly pounced on the opportunity to snatch up land and development rights belonging to cash-strapped religious and nonprofit organizations. Extell Development, for example, is planning a condo development alongside the Park Avenue Christian Church, for which the developer reportedly will pay nearly $25 million.
But just because a non-landmarked parish closes, it doesn’t necessarily mean development is a foregone conclusion.
In 2007, the archdiocese closed the Church of St. Vincent DePaul on West 23rd Street in Chelsea as part of an earlier round of restructuring. After attempting to raise money and get the building landmarked, the parish there decided to sue the Archdiocese in the Vatican's canonical court.
"We just want it to function as a church that serves its parishioners,” said lawyer Olga Statz, who along with a group of churchgoers brought the suit.
The case is currently in the appeal stage.
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