Activists concede defeat in UWS synagogue preservation fight

Activists who tried to save an Upper West Side synagogue from demolition are throwing in the towel.

“All options were exhausted…it’s a done deal,”one activist told DNAinfo. The Congregation Shaare Zedek told members that it will stop holding services in the building after the High Holy Days in September.

Last month a judge signed off on the sale of the property’s leasehold to Ornstein Leyton for $24.3 million. The firm plans to demolish the Synagogue at 212 West 93rd Street and build a 14-story, 20-unit condo building designed by ODA New York’s Eran Chen.

The synagogue’s president Michael Firestone previously said the a sale is necessary because the building’s upkeep had become too expensive. It plans to use $18.3 million of the sales proceeds to pay for the construction of a new synagogue and $8 million to pay for the upkeep of Bayside cemetery, DNAinfo reported. [DNAinfo] — Konrad Putzier