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Archdiocese of New York finds buyer for Chelsea church site 

Timber Equities in contract to purchase parcel for $48M

Timber Equities' Mitch Perle; 341 West 25th Street; Cardinal Timothy Dolan (Getty, JLL, Timber Equities)
Timber Equities' Mitch Perle; 341 West 25th Street; Cardinal Timothy Dolan (Getty, JLL, Timber Equities)

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  • Timber Equities is in contract to purchase the former St. Columba church site in West Chelsea for $48.3 million.
  • The deal requires legal approval due to state laws around religious organizations and nonprofits.
  • The Catholic Archdiocese of New York put the property on the market over the summer, and it is unclear what Timber has planned for the site.

If the former St. Columba campus in West Chelsea is going down, it’s only fitting for it to be yelling “timber!”

Mitch Perle’s Timber Equities is in contract to purchase the four-building parcel at 328-343 West 25th Street for $48.3 million, Crain’s reported. The deal was agreed to last month but requires legal approval, due to state laws around religious organizations and nonprofits.

Timber already put down a $2.4 million deposit, according to court filings. The firm has 90 days to close an all-cash deal for the site, which spans three adjacent parcels with a combined lot size of 20,000 square feet and, according to a JLL listing, is zoned for up to 128,400 square feet of floor space.

The Catholic Archdiocese of New York put the property on the market over the summer. The vacant property comprises the church and rectory, a school building and convent.

It’s unclear what Timber has planned for the property, though it’s safe to assume its days as a place of prayer are in the past. Marketing materials for the site all but begged a buyer to plot a conversion, mentioning the 200 feet of frontage on West 25th Street, a site zoned for residential as-of-right and the possibility of qualifying for the 485x tax break.

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Perle did not respond to a request for comment from Crain’s.

As membership in churches has waned in the city, long-standing institutions are being forced to make difficult decisions with their assets to shore up their finances.

In the fall, Vanbarton Group entered into contract to purchase the office building at 1011 First Avenue, which had long served as the headquarters for the Archdiocese. Vanbarton agreed to pay more than $100 million for the Sutton Place property, plotting an office-to-resi conversion.

In the summer, the Archdiocese agreed to sell 181 Avenue D in the East Village to Spatial Equity and Community Access for a minimum of $58 million. The buyers planned to turn the one-and-a-half acre lot into a 570-unit, fully affordable housing community.

Holden Walter-Warner

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