Huffington Post reports that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York announced the closing down of about 12 churches this year. Developers are free to buy them and turn them into new real estate investments.
There is indeed a serious market for such estates, with said properties fetching high prices. Take for example the century-old, Our Lady of Vilnius Church, founded by a Lithuanian family of immigrants.
According to Religion News Service, the church was closed in 2007. A case was filed to legally stop its closure but was overruled. The church was sold for $13 million and in just a year, was resold to another group of developers for $18.4 million. The old buyers clearly took in profits of almost 50% of what they invested in just a year's time.
This property-flipping, a term for buying a property and reselling it for a higher price as defined by Bankrate, may be a compelling reason for developers to buy and sell these former house of worships.
For one, the estates of these churches are relatively large and in New York, owning a property translates to having a gem in your pocket. Housing demand is always increasing in the very busy city, apartments are always sought by many renters, from students to young professionals, who want to live near they study or work.
As for Our Lady of Vilnius Church, however, it will soon face the wrecking ball to provide housing for residents through a proposed new development in the city - a luxury apartment consisting 18 stories-high.
Other churches also received the same fate of being transformed into apartment houses, including Mary Help of Christians in the East Village.
Another church has been turned into an apartment house, called Spire Lofts, with 40 dwelling units. It was formerly know to be the St. Vincent de Paul Church in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
There was also a Pentecostal churh, now transformed into 3 apartments. 1 unit of the apartment earns $100,000 per year.
Controversy: Is this all about the money?
This issue is becoming controversial as the closure of such historic and loved churches tend to demoralize and alienate the loyal parishioners of these house of worships. A former parishioner of Our Lady Vilnus Church, Christina Nakraseive, told the Huffington Post, "it's all about real estate." She even supported the petition to stop its closure as a stand on this issue.
Cardinal Reacts: "This is not about the money."
But Huffington Post detailed the reaction of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, as delivered in his pastoral letter. He stated that although the church is losing support money on several "unneeded" parishes, they just have "too many parishes!"
Dolan adds that they "no longer need 368 parishes" in some sites and said it's not just about the money. There is also a shortage of parish priests for these churches, he says.
Although these old churches could provide a home to some, old parishioners are morose and are missing their home of worship.
