By Scott Etkin
The saga over whether to grant West-Park Presbyterian Church a hardship application, thereby removing the church’s landmark status and facilitating its sale and demolition, is not over. But a hearing Tuesday before the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) took another step, after years of debate, toward a final decision.
At Tuesday’s meeting, representatives from the church responded to arguments made at a meeting in December, where members of the public and the Center at Park West, an arts organization that had rented space in the church for more than seven years, had presented their arguments for saving the historic church at 186 West 86th Street. The church’s presentation disputed an analysis by the Center at Park West, arguing that the group underestimated the cost of renovating the building, and that there is no viable path to raise funds for the needed renovation.
“It’s not that the building is too unsafe for short-term rentals to groups with no responsibility for its upkeep,” said Valerie Kramer, a lawyer speaking on behalf of the church. “Rather, it is that the overwhelming cost of addressing serious and ongoing maintenance issues far exceeds the resources of its struggling congregation.”
Core to the disagreement between the church and the Center at Park West is the cost of the renovations needed to fix structural issues and bring the church up to modern fire safety and standards for disability access. There is a roughly $15 million difference between each party’s estimates.
“There has been a long-running debate over the cost of restoring the building, but there is no disagreement that it’s in terrible shape,” said Roger Leaf, chair of the West Park Administrative Commission.
Adam Wald, executive vice president of Appraisers and Planners, Inc., who spoke on behalf of the church, said that the Center at Park West’s calculations are based on “flawed assumptions” and include only short-term repairs, excluding necessary repairs to the building’s interior. Historic elements of West-Park Presbyterian are beyond what can realistically be repaired, the church has argued.
Church representatives also said that the repairs would have to be done all at once, not in phases, because no tenant would rent the space knowing that there’s more construction ahead. They also cast doubt on the prospect of using funds from a lease to finance the repairs, claiming that the rent they collected from the Center at Park West was not enough to cover the church’s insurance bills. (Center at Park West is currently operating out of St. Paul & St. Andrew United Methodist Church on West 86th Street.)
Fundraising has been a challenge for both the church and the Center at Park West. Leaf told the hearing that Center at Park West has been kept afloat financially by the anonymous donations of one person, and church representatives said that the Center and City Councilmember Gale Brewer haven’t fulfilled promises to raise millions for the renovations.
“During its tenancy, the Center had ample opportunity to become a positive force and a true partner to the church but it failed at every turn,” said Kramer. “The burdens of maintaining this landmark have taken precedence over the mission and bankrupted the church.”
Commissioners on the LPC probed for more information about potential sources of revenue to fund the church, such as selling its unused air rights. The church values its Transferable Development Rights at $1.5 million, but it says there are no buyers for those rights – and that even if there were, this sum wouldn’t make a dent in the cost of renovations.
If the LPC does not grant the church’s hardship application, the church said it would struggle to find a buyer for the building, since no developer would take on the cost of fixing it, given its landmark status. Since the church is already in debt, this decision would effectively end the congregation.
If LPC grants the application, the church would complete a sale to Alchemy Properties, a real estate firm, which plans to build a residential building that includes a space for the congregation. The church said it would use proceeds from the sale, approximately $25 to $30 million, to start a social justice fund to further the church’s philanthropic mission.
There was no public testimony during this session, but the record remains open for the public to provide written comments.
The LPC did not set a date for the next time they discuss this matter. When that meeting happens, consultants will present findings from all the meetings and the LPC will determine if they need more information, or if they are ready to vote.
The full meeting can be watched HERE, beginning at 1:00:37.
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Maybe a daft question, but why couldn’t the current facade be incorporated into the new building, thus preserving some of its character?
Agreed, that’s a daft question.
Some advice to WSR readers: don’t waste valuable time and energy proposing solutions to this problem; limit your involvement to avoidance of walking under the church scaffolding; resign yourself to the fact that your grandchildren not yet born will still be reading about this when they are grandparents; spend your time reading Bleak House instead.
Bleak House indeed. This Park West saga makes Jarndyce v. Jarndyce look like a picnic in the park.
“If the LPC does not grant the church’s hardship application, the church said it would struggle to find a buyer for the building, since no developer would take on the cost of fixing it, given its landmark status.”
If the LPC does not grant the application the church will immediately file an Article 78 proceeding in NYS Supreme Court. It has good attorneys, I am sure the papers are already drafted.
One question that has never been answered though, after all this sturm and drang, how much did the Center actually raise for the repairs? Not promises or pledges,actual cash on the barrel.
The LPC should be forced to pay for all the legal costs forced on the church for having to deal with them. I can’t believe I’m reading another chapter in this saga. If there was ever a reason to investigate and reimagine the mission of the LPC, this is it.
I asked Gail Brewer why, after all these years of promising solutions to this, had she done nothing.
She insisted she was right about landmarking the church and assured me that she would have something soon.
That was three years ago and still crickets.
Anyone interested in knowing whether anyone is worse than trump in such as promising a health care plan “soon” can look to Ms. Brewer.
Tear it down already
Really hard to ignore that the LPC is illegally and unconstitutionally infringing upon this congregation’s right to freely exercise its religion.
Wonder how that would play before the current supreme court.
Perhaps someone should mention it to The President.