St. Savior’s Church facing demolition

The Juniper Park Civic Association (JPCA) is not giving up on its quest to bring landmark status to St. Savior’s Church in Maspeth and preventing Maspeth Development LLC from demolishing the site and turning it into residential units.
“The Juniper Park Civic Association is looking at bringing legal action to keep this site as a landmark,” said JPCA President Bob Holden, who along with Christina Wilkinson, chairperson for JPCA’s Committee to Save St. Savior’s met with an attorney on Monday to discuss the group’s legal options.
The civic association is proposing that the church, which was built in 1847, receive landmark status contending that the land that St. Savior’s sits on contains documented references to Native American, African American, colonial and Newtown history as well as destinations of historical figures including DeWitt Clinton and James Maurice.
The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission has denied two previous requests for landmark status, but last Saturday, more than 150 people ventured to St. Savior’s in the pouring rain to attend a rally demonstrating that they are ready to continue the fight.
In order for Maspeth Development LLC, headed by Tomer Dafna, to construct nearly 71 residential units in place of St. Savior’s, they will need a zoning change granted by the Department of City Planning, which will change the zoning from an M1-1D to an R5B zone.
“He has been raping this community; let’s not be too quick to grant him these changes,” Holden said.
According to Patrick Jones, a partner at the law firm Petraro and Jones, who filed the request for the zoning change with City Planning on behalf of Maspeth Development LLC, he is confident that City Planning will certify the proposal and begin the Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP).
Throughout the past month, both the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and the Department of Buildings (DOB) have issued stop work orders on the property due to alleged improper removal of asbestos.
“We have issued a stop work order,” said Jennifer Givner, a spokesperson for the Department of Buildings.
Givner said that the DOB issued the order to stop all work on Friday, April 21.
“They need to file the proper asbestos removal form indicating that it is an asbestos removal process,” Givner said. “Until they do so, the stop work order will remain in effect.”
Since then, the DOB has received a number of alerts that work has resumed at the site, and DOB planned to send an inspector to the site on either Tuesday or Wednesday, according to Givner.
Meanwhile, the JPCA has reached out to preservation groups throughout Queens including the Four Borough Neighborhood Preservation Alliance, who has offered its support and will hold a press conference at St. Savior’s on Sunday morning.