Key Tenant in Long-Running Battle Evicted from West Park Presbyterian

A cornerstone tenant of the West Park Presbyterian Church has left the premises following an eviction order, which could make a plan to demolish the church easier. The Center at West Park told The Spirit that they were fully moved out by July 14, and are now operating elsewhere in the neighborhood.

Interestingly enough, the church’s congregation voted to sell the landmarked 19th-century building to a developer for $33 million back in 2020, citing expensive repairs and financial needs stemming from broader trends of declining church attendance.

An affiliate of Alchemy Properties, who inked the agreement with the congregation, reportedly intends to develop market-rate housing on the site. The congregation would reportedly retain 10,000 sq. feet in the new development for church activities.

However, the congregation still needs to convince NYC’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to sign off on any demolition permit, which could be made more likely by The Center at West Park’s departure. West Park Presbyterian was landmarked back in 2010. An array of locals and celebrities alike are rallying to preserve the church, including the actor Mark Ruffalo and the filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan. Over the years, even as the church congregation shrank, the building emerged as a safe haven for a number of neighborhood non-profit organization.

To get LPC sign-off, the congregation would re-submit something known as a hardship application, after they withdrew an initial one in January amid the eviction battle. Unsurprisingly, getting a demolition permit can’t proceed until the building is completely vacant.

In May, a state appeals court ruled that The Center at West Park could be served an eviction notice, which happened on June 9. It received a final eviction notice on July 7, leading to its July 14 departure date.

The Center–which primarily puts on arts & culture programming, and is viewed as a haven by the city’s LGBTQ+ community–told The Spirit that it would now be holding events at locations in the vicinity of its former home, such as St. Paul & St. Andrew United Methodist Church, which is also located on W. 86th St.

New York Landmarks President Peg Breen, who has been organizing to save the 135 year-old church, told The Spirit that The Center’s eviction doesn’t necessarily mean that it will now be demolished.

“There are some tenants who will be at the church until December,” she explained, meaning that the congregation cannot deem the building “vacant” until the end of the year. “[Demolition] is not a given. They have to make the case to the Landmarks Commission.”

Breen noted that the now-evicted Center at West Park, as part of a grassroots effort to preserve the church, had raised $7 million dollars that they offered to the congregation for repairs. Breen believes that the money “would have eliminated outstanding building violations and allowed the church to take down scaffolding,” the latter of which has encircled the church since 2001.

“The church said ‘no,’” Breen added. “Is it hardship when somebody offers you $7 million dollars and you say ‘no’?” However, the congregation estimates that repairing the church would cost around $50 million, although Breen said that some other engineers have disagreed.

West Park Presbyterian Church’s congregation did not respond to a request for comment by press time.