Community Access Files Plans for Former East Village Church

Local nonprofit Community Access is poised to add access to housing in the East Village with its latest move.

The organization filed plans for a 21-story, 220-unit housing development at 730 East 13th Street, Crain’s reported. The building is part of a larger 570-unit development springing up across the parcels at and around 181 Avenue D; Community Access filed plans at that site last month for a 21-story, 350-unit project.

The latest filing details a 128,000-square-foot development, including a 69,000-square-foot community facility. The larger building’s community facility will feature fitness rooms and a teaching kitchen.

All of the units across the two sides will be designated for affordable housing. The timeline on the project has not been publicized; Community Access did not respond to the publication’s request for comment.

The Archdiocese of New York entered into a contract to sell the site at 181 Avenue D to Spatial Equity and Community Access for a minimum of $58 million two years ago. That price point was set to escalate by up to another $10 million, but the final sale price was ultimately lowered all the way to $35 million for unknown reasons.

The existing building, formerly used as the campus of St. Emeric, is approximately 12,000 square feet. The land is a brownfield site, used as part of a manufactured gas plant from the 1860s to 1993, but the polluted soil is in the process of being cleaned.

The church closed in 2013 due to congregation numbers falling, and merged with St. Brigid nearby. Asylum seekers have visited the former church to apply for shelter in recent years.

Community Access is also developing a 292-unit project in the Concourse section of the Bronx with an expected price tag above $200 million. The River Avenue II development, scheduled for completion in 2029, will include units for those with mental health problems and those with a history of homelessness.

Former church sites are proving to be a development goldmine in New York City. In November, Timber Equities moved to put up two 14-story residential buildings at 335 and 345 West 25th Street in Chelsea; the developer purchased the former site of the St. Columba campus in August for $48.25 million.

— Holden Walter-Warner