For months, preservationists and architecture-lovers of all stripes worked diligently to prevent the demolition of the 1899 Green Church in Bay Ridge, but to no avail. By the end of October, the building was being dismantled, its details carted off to salvage companies. The church’s plan for the site was 70 condos, having sold the property to developer Abe Betesh for $9.75 million, though the DOB rejected their earlier permit requests. Such hurdles continue, reports the Brooklyn Eagle. “At the site of the ‘green church’ destroyed in mid-October, Betesh has posted a ‘For Sale or Lease’ sign this week, the same week the site, at Fourth and Ovington avenues, was featured in a New York Times article about preservation of houses of worship in the city.” The sign apparently reads, “School, Medical, Not-for-Profit or Residential.” Could the bad publicity be the cause of the sale? Seems like a lot of work to go through, to raze a beloved property and then unload it to the highest bidder.
‘Green Church’ Co-op Plans Fall Through [Brooklyn Eagle]
Photo from cbder.