UES Pastor Sued By Church After Selling His Co-Op Apartment

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — It's a holy mess: an Upper East Side pastor is facing a lawsuit from his church's parent organization after selling the apartment that had been provided to him decades ago.

Gregory Fryer has served since 1991 as pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, on East 88th Street and Lexington Avenue. In 1993, Immanuel Lutheran provided Fryer with a seven-room, three-bed apartment on the seventh floor of a pre-war co-op building on East 82nd Street.

Fryer has lived there without incident for nearly 30 years — until recently, when he agreed to sell it for $2 million to undisclosed buyers, according to a complaint filed last week by the Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which oversees most of New York City's Lutheran churches.

The synod says that Immanuel Lutheran remains the "real and beneficial owner" of the apartment, though the title was listed in Fryer's name. By selling it without getting the state's approval, Fryer and Immanuel Lutheran broke a state law that requires the sale of religious properties to get a special go-ahead, the synod alleges.

Moreover, the terms of the sale "are not fair and reasonable" to Immanuel and its members, the synod claims.

The many defendants named in the lawsuit include Fryer, Immanuel Lutheran, the building's co-op board, and the real estate firms Douglas Elliman and Brown Harris Stevens, which helped broker the sale. (The lawsuit was first reported by The Real Deal.)

Fryer declined to comment, and Immanuel Lutheran did not respond to a request for comment.

A listing for the apartment says it is in contract to be sold. Boasting skyline views and a wood-buring fireplace in the living room, it also features custom-built bookshelves, high ceilings, a granite-countertop kitchen and in-unit laundry.

Immanuel Lutheran is described in the suit as a "beautiful, historic church structure," founded by German immigrants in 1886.