Demolition Of Crumbling 132-Year-Old UWS Church? Local Board Votes No

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — In the first major decision surrounding the possible demolition of a 132-year-old Upper West Side church, a committee of the local community board voted Thursday night against removing the church's landmark designation.

The West-Park Presbyterian Church at 165 W. 86th Street is petitioning the Landmarks Preservation Commission for a "hardship application," which would strip the holy building's landmark status and clear the path for its demolition.

The church recently agreed to sell the building to Alchemy Properties — which has plans to turn the building into a residential highrise with a ground floor space for the church — but the sale is contingent on the current structure being fully demolished.

At the conclusion of a four-hour Community Board 7 Preservation meeting on Thursday night that was attended by more than 200 people, eight committee members voted to deny the application, one member voted to support it, and one abstained.

The recommendation from the committee will now go to the full Community Board meeting in early June, and eventually to the Landmarks Preservation Commission this summer.

The meeting was kicked off by a presentation from the church detailing the crumbling conditions within the building, and the projected price tag it would cost to fix.

The presentation also unveiled a look at the renderings of what the red-brick church would become if the developers did succeed in their highrise ambitions.

You can view the church's full presentation, here.

After the church's presentation, members of the public and community board committee delivered their thoughts.

The majority of the dozens of speakers spoke against granting the church its request to lose its landmark status.

Many speakers shared the sentiment that the church and Presbytery should have done a better job taking care of the building over the years and that it didn't seem fair that the profits of the sale would go toward the Presbytery.

"Rewarding an owner who participates in demolition by neglect will set a precedent," said Sean Khorsandi, the executive director of the preservationist nonprofit group, Landmark West.

Council Member Gale Brewer also spoke during the meeting, her remarks centered on one of the main points of contention between the two sides — how much it will actually cost to repair the church if it isn't demolished.

Brewer argued that the church should be sold to a nonprofit, which would inspire more Upper West Siders to donate to the building, and also allow her to allocate city money to it.

Speakers at a rally to preserve the church earlier on Thursday, including Brewer, estimated that the total cost to preserve the church would be between $10 and $20 million.

The Rally

A small crowd gathered Thursday morning on the corner of Amsterdam and 86th Street across the road from the church to rally against the demolition of the century-old building.

“There is going to be a long fight, and we want to get started as soon as possible, to let people know that the hardship should not be granted by the Landmarks preservation commission," Brewer told Patch.

Rep. Jerry Nadler was also at the rally to voice his support for maintaining the building.

"While I do sympathize with the plight of the congregation, the Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously approved the designation only 10 years ago," Nadler said. "This building is what makes the UWS a unique and cherished place to live and to tear it down would do irreparable harm to the neighborhood and our city."

Upper West Sider Bob Wyman came out Thursday in support of not demolishing the church, saying it would be an "unjust" decision.

“I live in the community, it frustrates me because this is a very valuable piece of property, the reason it has become valuable is because the citizens of New York have been essentially funding this site by giving it tax exemptions for the last 100 years," he told Patch. "It is now completely unjust to turn around and say that a private entity will now essentially cash in on the investment made by the city and the people of the city.”

Community Board 7 Preservation Committee co-chair K Karpen was also in attendance Thursday morning.

“I’m going to help move the conversation along tonight," Karpen told Patch. "So, I’m trying to gather as much information as possible for tonight as I can. I read through the entire application, I have also spoken to neighbors, I feel a heavy responsibility - this is a big decision - I’m here to gather information.”

Karpen voted against the church's request to remove its landmark status later that night.

Roger Leaf, the chair of the West-Park Presbyterian Church's Administrative Commission and one of the last remaining members of its congregation, pushed back against Brewer and other people's claims at the press conference Thursday that it would cost near $20 million to renovate the church.

“The $50 million is a real number. The $20 million is unimaginably low given the condition of the building,” Leaf told Commercial Observer. “There were many promises made by elected officials and community groups, how if the building were landmarked there would be funds available, and those funds have never materialized.”

The meeting Thursday night eventually drew to an end with multiple of the committee members commenting on the difficulty of the vote, before overwhelmingly deciding to not support the church's push to lose its landmark status.

You can watch the full meeting below.