New UES Church Will 'Destroy' People's Homes, Next-Door Landlord Says

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A church trying to build a new Yorkville house of worship has become embroiled in a nasty legal battle with the owners of a next-door apartment building, who fears the new project would render people's homes "uninhabitable."

For two years, Redeemer Presbyterian Church has planned to construct an 11-story "ministry center" at 150 East 91st St., having recently demolished a vacant six-story building that stood on the site between Third and Lexington avenues.

The new church would run right up against 160 East 91st St., an eight-story co-op building next door. Not only that: according to the building's owners, the church would fully block out light from several apartments whose only windows face the church site.

That entire line of apartments would be rendered "completely uninhabitable," a lawyer for the building owners wrote in a Sept. 21 letter to the church's attorney. "Their investments will be destroyed."

For that reason, the next-door owners have refused to give the church permission to install scaffolding, netting, and other protections in front of the next-door building during construction, as required by the city. The owners will not grant that permission unless Redeemer moves its new church back by three feet from the apartments, an attorney told Patch.

With no resolution in sight, Redeemer sued the next-door owners this week, asking a judge for an order giving them permission to construct the scaffolding and start building the church.

Redeemer, for its part, says it has gone out of its way to accommodate the next-door owners, reaching out in early 2021 and sitting down for a meeting months later, where the owners first asked for the church to be moved back several feet.

Redeemer had its architects consider the request, but they "concluded that it was simply not possible" to redesign the church and still achieve its mission, according to a September letter from the church's lawyers.

Redeemer says the owners are being "unreasonable," since they have no actual objection to the construction safety plan. Once built, the church argues, its building will benefit the surrounding neighborhood thanks to its ample community space, which Redeemer plans to rent out at below-market rates for use by food pantries, after-school classes, and other local groups.

While the previous building that once occupied the church site had also brushed up against the co-op at 160 East 91st, the co-op says the two buildings were in fact separated for over a century by a "light well," which provided sunlight, air, and room for a fire escape.

Redeemer's building would "essentially remove two-thirds" of the light well, lawyers for the co-op wrote in their September letter. That would affect three full lines of apartments — especially the set of studios whose sole windows face the airshaft.

That would essentially render the studios "illegal," according to the attorneys, pointing to state laws that require special permission to reduce the amount of light and air in an apartment.

The next-door owners are identified only as "160 East 91 Owners Corp." Public records show the building is managed by the company FirstService Residential.

An attorney and spokesperson for Redeemer declined to comment. Church leaders have previously touted the eye-catching new development, saying they were "committed to being good neighbors."

Matthew Brett, a lawyer for the next-door owner, said in a statement that he was "surprised and disappointed that the Church has refused" the request to push back its building.

"Is it truly unreasonable for the Owner to stand up for its residents who are about to lose the most valuable assets they own? Wouldn’t the church do the same for its clergy and congregants?" Brett wrote in the September letter. "This is more than just being about money—these are peoples' homes."

Related coverage:

• Eye-Catching UES Church Set To Rise On Residential Block: See It
  
• UES Building To Be Demolished Ahead Of Church Development
• Evangelical Church Seeks To Build 10-Story UES Ministry Center

Have an Upper East Side news tip? Contact reporter Nick Garber at nick.garber@patch.com.