Forest Hills Jewish Center Contracted To Be Sold To Developers

FOREST HILLS, NY — A massive Forest Hills synagogue could be bought by developers who plan to tear it down after congregants voted to sell, according to city records and multiple reports.

The Forest Hills Jewish Center at 106-06 Queens Boulevard, listed in 2020 for $50,000,000, has signed a purchasing contract with Top Rock Holdings, RJ Capital Holdings and JU Forest Hills Development, Finance department records show.

A memorandum from the city approving the sale agreement was filed in August, nearly a year after it was signed, records show and a report from The Real Deal.

The Forest Hills Jewish Center encompasses an entire block on 69th Road and is near the Forest Hills-71st Ave. subway station, according to its online listing.

Congregants voted in 2021 to sell the center — which has served as a neighborhood synagogue since the 1940s — because the concert-hall-like space didn't feel intimate and lacked modern amenities, such as air conditioning and elevators, reported the Jewish Telegraph Agency.

They hope to find a new building within walking distance of the Forest Hills Jewish Center that could house community centers, reported the Times of Israel.

The synagogue is said to incorporate one stone from Israel and another from a desecrated synagogue that was ruined during the Holocaust from Frankfort on the Main, Germany, according to the Rego-Forest Preservation Council, a landmark preservation group.

The site also had a religious school, recreation center and senior center, the preservation group added.