Eye-Catching UES Church Set To Rise On Residential Block: See It

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Upper East Siders have grown accustomed in recent years to longtime buildings being cleared to make way for new developments. But one Yorkville block is about to see a different kind of project, as a low-rise apartment building gets replaced by an eye-catching church.

Redeemer Presbyterian Church is moving ahead with plans to construct its 11-story "ministry center" at 150 East 91st St., between Third and Lexington avenues. First announced in 2020, the project is now almost underway, with demolition on the existing six-story building set to begin in about two weeks, a church leader told Patch on Monday.

The church also shared new renderings of the future building, which will stand 170 feet tall and feature a 600-seat sanctuary, a 300-person fellowship hall and up to 17 classrooms.

"We’ve been thinking about this for years and years," said Bruce Terrell, the executive director of Redeemer East Side.

An Evangelical Christian institution, Redeemer has roots on the Upper East Side, having first held services in 1989 inside a Seventh-Day Adventist congregation on East 87th Street. It has since grown to more than 5,000 members across five Manhattan locations by catering largely to working professionals, according to a 2017 profile of the church.

Planning for the new Upper East Side building began more than a decade ago, when Redeemer began canvassing the neighborhood in search of suitable spots, Terrell said. In the process, church leaders identified a parking garage on the Upper West Side, which Redeemer ultimately renovated and converted into a five-story church building that opened in 2012 — even as the East Side project kept waiting.

Numerous locations on the Upper East Side emerged as contenders, from parking garages to existing church buildings, according to Terrell. Ultimately, Redeemer's leaders settled on the century-old brick building at 150 East 91st St., which had been put on the market by owner GPG Properties; Redeemer bought the building for $29.5 million in August 2020. (Tenants of its 25 apartments had already been relocated to other GPG buildings before the sale.)

Work on the new building will take about two years, slated to wrap up in early 2024, according to Terrell. Its ground floor may feature a coffee bar or some other community-oriented space, while upper floors will include a balcony, training spaces for its roughly 1,500 congregants, and a catering kitchen.

As construction begins, Redeemer has launched a new website to provide updates and give neighbors the ability to reach out with questions or concerns.

"We realize that construction’s disruptive and we really are committed to being transparent and being good neighbors," Terrell said.

The church's expansions have not always gone smoothly, as the Upper West Side location endured local pushback, scrutiny from the city and a fatal construction accident while it was being built. (Redeemer East Side now operates separately from other church locations in the city, following a 2017 reorganization.)

Redeemer is already in talks with local organizations like the 92nd Street Y about making use of space in its future building, while members have stepped up volunteer work at the nearby NYCHA Holmes Towers and Isaacs Houses as Redeemer makes inroads on the Upper East Side, Terrell said.

"We really are committed to being good neighbors and for the building to be utilized beyond the building for the church," he said. "We really want it to be a facility that benefits our Upper East Side neighbors."

Related coverage:

• UES Building To Be Demolished Ahead Of Church Development
• Evangelical Church Seeks To Build 10-Story UES Ministry Center