Several Landmarks Preservation Commissioners Indicate UWS West-Park Church Likely Meets Hardship Criteria

By Scott Etkin

Several commissioners at a meeting of the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) Tuesday suggested that West-Park Presbyterian on West 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue likely meets the criteria for a hardship application that could allow the demolition of the church and a new development on the property.

The commission did not make any final decision, but several commissioners and LPC’s general counsel, Mark Silberman, indicated that they think the more than 130-year-old church does not have a viable way to pay for the extensive renovations needed to fix its facade or bring the interior up to code.

Over the past eight months, the LPC has held four meetings, including one five-hour session with testimony from the public, received extensive written testimony, and had analyses from three independent firms to review the financial standing of West-Park and the claims of the Center at West Park, the arts nonprofit that is trying to stop its demolition.

At the meeting on Tuesday, the LPC summarized these findings and discussed their implication on the four criteria needed for the commission to grant the church’s hardship application.

The first of the four requirements mandates there is a bona fide contract to sell the property contingent on hardship approval. West-Park has an agreement with Alchemy Properties, a real estate firm, which plans to build a residential building that includes a space for the congregation.

The second, and perhaps most complicated, question asks whether the property would be capable of earning a “reasonable return” (defined as 6% of its assessed value) going forward, primarily through rent and recurring income.

To make this determination, a test year (in this case, September 2024 to August 2025) was used to represent what West-Park can earn. Weitzman Associates, LPC’s real estate advisor, modeled several scenarios based on these numbers and found that none of them produced a 6% return.

The commission noted that while the church has received significant funding from the Center at West Park, which is a former tenant of the church, over the years, the Center relies on donations and grants, and therefore its income is highly variable. Typically, this kind of financial history would be scrutinized by landlords seeking to rent a property, according to LPC vice chair Angie Master.

The commission also spoke about the church’s Transferable Development Rights (TDRs), commonly known as “air rights”, that it could sell to other nearby properties as a source of revenue. While West-Park has TDRs that could be worth in the millions of dollars if sold, the practical matter is that there are no large-scale potential buyers of the rights in the neighborhood for the foreseeable future.

The third criteria focuses on whether the building is still suitable for the owner’s purposes. While the commission appeared in agreement that the structure is physically usable for worship, community services, and arts programming, the sticking point comes in determining whether the cost of maintaining the building prevents or seriously interferes with the congregation’s purposes.

Estimates vary on the cost of making repairs to the facade and bringing the interior up to code. The recent offer by the Center at West Park to enter a new $7.2 million lease agreement with the church would go a long way toward covering these costs. But some commissioners were skeptical such a deal would come about.

“[The Center at Park West] is proposing to pay a rent that is 24 times higher than the $30,000 it was previously paying [to West-Park],” said LPC chair Lisa Kersavage. “As we understand the Center’s finances, it doesn’t have much more than the cash on hand. The rest are pledges […] The church is entitled to look at the creditworthiness and track record of the Center, and conclude it’s not an organization with which it would be reasonable or prudent to enter into a tenure relationship with.”

The fourth criteria has to do with the purchaser’s good‑faith intent to demolish the existing structure immediately and build the new one promptly. Alchemy has a demolition contract, a contract with an architect, and a preliminary design for a new building already in hand, though the Center has objected that this criteria is not met because the church has not yet obtained court approval of the sale contract and Alchemy has not yet filed applications for demolition or the new building with the Department of Buildings.

Silberman, LPC’s general counsel, said that it would be unreasonable to require the church to obtain court approval of a contract before it knows whether a hardship will be granted.

At the outset of the meeting, Lisa Kersavage, chair of the LPC, said that their discussion would focus only on the building’s financial outlook, not its architectural or cultural importance, of which there is no doubt. “The commission isn’t considering de-designation or anything related to the church’s significance. None of that is at issue,” she said. “In fact, the demolition of the building is inherently inappropriate, and that is why this is being considered under the hardship provision.”

Hardship exemptions to allow the demolition of architecturally important buildings are rare. The LPC has granted slightly more than half of the 23 hardship applications that have been filed since the city’s landmarks law was adopted 60 years ago, Kersavage said in her opening remarks.

The LPC’s next step is to draft a determination, which will be circulated among the commissioners. No date was mentioned during Tuesday’s meeting about a final vote on granting the hardship. But Councilmember Gale Brewer’s newsletter mentioned that the vote will take place on Tuesday, August 18.

To watch a recording of the LPC’s meeting, click – HERE. The discussion begins at the 17:00 mark.

Read More: 

• Process Begins to Determine Fate of Upper West Side Landmark Church
• UWS Community Board Committee Votes Not to Support Hardship Application for West-Park Church
• UWS Community Board Makes Its Official Recommendation on Fate of 135-Year-Old Church
• West-Park Presbyterian Makes Its Case to Demolish the UWS Church So its Mission Can Continue
• UWS Arts Center Offers $7.2M Lease Proposal in Effort to Stop Demolition of West Park Presbyterian Church

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