NEWS: St. Ann's Sale was "a mistake"
Diocese won’t sell property
BY LORE CROGHAN and LEO STANDORA
New York Daily News – http://www.nydailynews.com
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Sunday, January 21st, 2007
The Archdiocese of New York insisted yesterday that none of the properties in four city parishes earmarked for closing is up for sale.
But if the archdiocese were in a selling mood, experts said the pieces of prime real estate would fetch a bundle that would go a long way in helping the church raise $200 million as part of its first major capital campaign in almost two decades.
The sale of St. Ann’s near Union Square two years ago – as well as the quiet unloading of some church-owned vacant land in Manhattan and the Bronx – has raised speculation that more church property may be sold.
St. Ann’s went for $15 million at a time when property values were substantially lower.
The parishes where property is rumored to be a candidate for sale are Mary Help of Christians in the East Village, Our Lady Queen of Angels in East Harlem, St. Mary’s in Wakefield, the Bronx, and St. John the Baptist de La Salle in Stapleton, S.I.
But archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling insisted Friday that “selling those properties is not something that is going to happen.”
He said Edward Cardinal Egan “has spoken to this issue many times, saying we should not be in the business of selling property because the needs of the archdiocese are constantly shifting.”
Zwilling said the cardinal has often called the sale of St. Ann’s a mistake – citing that as a reason to hold onto church property. But a small committee of real estate brokers agreed the prices of property must be tempting.
They said development sites near Mary Help of Christians are going for top dollar – $300 to $400 per buildable square foot, while developers are paying $150 to $250 a square foot around Our Lady Queen of Angels in East Harlem.
The price is $55 to $65 a square foot in Wakefield, where St. Mary’s is located, and less than $50 in Stapleton, where St. John the Baptist de La Salle is located.