A 124-Year-Old East Harlem Church That Fell Into Disrepair Could Become New Housing
Another property sale could shore up some cash for the Archdiocese of New York if the Manhattan Supreme Court approves the sale of a 124-year-old property.
The archdiocese filed paperwork with the court Friday to sell the Holy Rosary Church, a property built in 1900.
The property went under contract to sell to Kahen Development Group for $5M in late June, court records show. The sale has to be approved by the state court due to the property’s status as a religious site.
A Cushman & Wakefield appraisal of the church valued the 13K SF property and its 5K SF of additional air rights at $4.9M. It sits in a residentially zoned area at 442-444 E. 119th St. in East Harlem, which could allow Kahen Development, a luxury residential developer, to turn the property into housing.
The church has fallen into disrepair and was decommissioned in 2017, Gothamist reported. A potential sale to a developer with ties to the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art fell through this year when the would-be buyer found that repair costs came to around $44M.
The Archdiocese of New York signed a contract earlier this year to sell another religious property, a church and campus at 181 Avenue D in Lower Manhattan known as St. Emeric.
The buyers, Spatial Equity Co. and Community Access, were shelling out between $58M and $68M for the property, PincusCo reported at the time.
The archdiocese plans to use proceeds from the Holy Rosary Church sale to fund its general expenses “and/or the conduct and furtherance of its corporate purposes,” according to court records.
The archdiocese is in the midst of legal battles that threaten to bankrupt the organization, the New York Post previously reported.
It faces thousands of cases from sexual abuse survivors under the Child Victims Act and the Adult Survivors Act. Earlier this spring, its main insurer, Chubb, argued that it doesn't bear responsibility for criminal behavior committed and should not pay out settlements, the Albany Times Union reported.
