In New York, Churches Struggle to Make the Rent

April 25, 2004

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/25/realestate/25COV.html

On April 25, 2004 The New York Times reported, "The beliefs they espouse may be eternal, but the grip that churches and synagogues have on their property can be transitory. With shrinking memberships and demographic shifts as ethnic groups move out of neighborhoods and others move in, houses of worship can be filled to capacity and financially comfortable in one decade and struggling for survival in the next. In the meantime, they must find ways to finance the repair or renovation of aging buildings. In some cases, life rafts are held out by developers, but at a price: the right to build may entail demolition of the church itself. Throughout the city and beyond, religious institutions from the expansive Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine and the West-Park Presbyterian Church in Manhattan to the small Bay Ridge United Methodist Church in Brooklyn are grappling with difficult, sometimes wrenching, decisions: to sell off land or buildings, rent space to tenants, merge with other congregations, seek designation as a landmark or resist landmarking."

See also: Christianity, Zoning