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The Center at West Park (CWP) announced in a recent press release that it has secured $3.5 million in pledges to potentially save West-Park Presbyterian Church from demolition at the hands of a developer set to rid the building of its landmark status and flip it into a residential high rise.
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CWP is a not-for-profit community performing arts center which has occupied the church, located at 165 West 86th Street, since 2017. It is beholden it its landlord, which is also the church. The two groups have been at odds over the future of the site for months.
CWP wants to preserve the church’s landmark status and continue its work in the space. West-Park Presbyterian Church, a religious corporation consisting of the church’s congregation, twelve strong as of April 2022, supports the structure’s demolition, the undoing of its landmark status, and the sale of the site for $33 million to developer Alchemy.
A rendering of the potential future of the site, c/o Alchemy Properties
The Landmark Preservation Commission (LPC) will ultimately decide the fate of the building. Until recently, CWP seemed like an overmatched underdog in the fight. After all, West-Park Presbyterian Church had a $33 million offer versus … what?
That question has now been answered.
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CWP secured $3.5 million in pledges that would “fully fund [its] offer to buy the building from the West-Park congregation, which voted to sell last year after decades of declining membership and dwindling funds. Upon purchasing the property, CWP will launch a capital campaign to raise public and private funds to preserve and upgrade the building as a vibrant and inclusive facility for arts and culture,” according to the press release.
The $3.5 million is just “initial funding,” according to Michael Hiller, an attorney who is representing CWP. He confirmed that an official offer was made back in June 2022 which also included air rights “estimated conservatively at $13 million. Along with the confirmed cash, this is a very substantial offer.”
Hiller also mentioned that CWP hopes to add $10-12 million in restorations which would bring its total package closer to $28 million.
“The LPC is expected to meet again soon to review new evidence and vote on the demolition plan. With strong public support, combined with compelling expert testimony from a team of preservation lawyers and engineers, The Center at West Park is confident the LPC will vote to reject the Presbytery’s demolition plan and preserve West Park as a beacon of art, culture, and architectural history on the Upper West Side,” according to the press release.
It now seems that CWP has a fighting chance to save itself and to save a piece of Upper West Side history.
Just how much time, money, and effort are these people going to put into opposing new housing?
Housing for whom?
It’s also about protecting the Landmarks Law.
With the logic being used here to justify tearing down the church, Grand Central would have been torn down after the railroad went bankrupt.
This is a church, as a religious structure it brings up many issues to which secular structures are not subject; most obvious being the 1st Amendment. The building is the sole asset of this congregation and the inability to sell at fair market value is interfering with its religious freedom because it cannot sell its asset and use the money for its mission These days when conservatives have a lock on the federal court system, combined with a conservative interpretation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), augurs a bright future for the congregation and the developer once the matter is out of LPC’s hands. It does not matter which way LPC comes down on the matter its decision is only the first stop on its way to SCOTUS.
And a dozen years from now it’ll still be there with the scaffolding around it taking up space.
Who gets the money from the sale of the church? Whether to this small group/tenant or the big developer? There are only 12 congregants- are they getting this $?
The Church is owned by the bigger group of Presbyterian churches in New York City. They will get the money.
If the tenant buys the building for $3.5 million, they will be allowed to sell the building in the future. Presumably they’d get the windfall in the future when they fail to raise money to fix the building, like they have for the last decade plus.
Oh wow.
“CWP secured $3.5 million in pledges that would “fully fund [its] offer to buy the building from the West-Park congregation…” Not even touching on the difference between “pledges” and “cash in the bank,” the Center’s “offer” is $3.5m, but the developer is offering $33m, and new worship space. The CWP is under the misapprehension the Congregation is now obligated to sell its sole asset for 1/10th its fair market value. My preferred outcome is knock the building and bring this decade long saga to an end.
the developer is attempting to break the landmarks law.
like Grand Central?
As noted in the article, the fate of the building is up to the LPC, so this “pledge” (and a “pledge” is not money in the pocket) is just another attempt to band-aid a wound that needs to be surgically removed. I applaud their valor and tenacity. But they need to stop prolonging this unnecessary drama, and let the congregation do what it wishes with ITS building.
Ian A:
The congregation wishes to break both the letter and the spirit of the landmarks law.
The Church has little money, few members. They sold off all their assets over the past decade to try and keep the building up with scaffolding. What more should they have done? They are effectively bankrupt. Unless you want to pay for it, let the building go – it is perfectly within the letter and the spirit of the landmarks law – under the hardship provision no owner can be forced to pay for repairs they can’t afford nor can the be forced to give it to someone else who claims they have the means to fix it up.