By Matthew Monks
The Cooper Avenue Corp., which purchased the shuttered Annunciation Episcopal Church in March, filed a notice of demolition with Community Board 5 on May 5, according to board members and the company's real estate broker.
“They bought the property as a developer and they're interested in improving the community,” said Mary Jo Spina, of the Chateau Realty Corp. in Glendale. “They're going to build luxury, three-family homes.”
In the interest of saving the nearly century-old church, Community Board 5 Chairman Vincent Arcuri Jr. and District Manager Gary Giordano called the city Landmarks Preservation Commission, which said it would be difficult to landmark.
The process usually takes three months, said Mary Beth Betts, director of research for the commission. Landmarking must begin before a developer is granted a demolition permit, she said.
Spina said her client is compiling a Department of Buildings demolition permit and will submit it as soon as the building is prepped for razing.
To save the church, the community board and landmarks commission would have to race against the clock to review the historic and architectural merit of the building and schedule it for a public hearing before the developer gets a permit. If the church is calendared before then, the commission will have just 40 days to grant it landmark status, Betts said.
Giordano and Arcuri said that as of Tuesday, no one had submitted a preservation commission request to evaluate the property, the first step in the landmarking process.
Giordano would not say if he or the board would attempt to landmark the church.
The original stucco building was erected in 1898, Arcuri said. An extension followed in 1925. The structures sit on the corner of Cooper Avenue and 71st Street.
Previously owned by the Episcopal Diocese of New England, the church closed early this year due to a lack of parishioners, said state Sen. Serphin Maltese (R-Glendale), who also wants to preserve the site.
“I was very disappointed when the church desanctified it,” Maltese said. “I am entirely against the demolition of those two buildings … it's old Glendale.”
Many of the church's stain glass windows are broken or boarded, and the lot is overgrown with tall grass and weeds.
The Cooper Avenue Corp. bought the property for $1.1 million, and is eager to erect six, three-family houses, Spina said. She could not describe in detail the cost or size of the 18 total units because plans are being finalized but said each house would be sold individually and the units rented out by the owners.
She would not comment on the community board's inquiry into landmarking the site, which if approved would prevent the developer from razing the church.
Betts said a property can be landmarked against the owner's wishes, but it usually makes the process more difficult.
Reach reporter Matthew Monks by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
