As the search for a new home for St. Saviour’s Church continues, officials are looking into turning the former site into a park — possibly through the use of Eminent Domain.
A warehouse currently sits on a corner of the one-and-a-half acre plot in Maspeth, which is owned by Maspeth Development, while the rest of the land remains undeveloped.
“It is a complete slap in the face that we have to stand here now and see this monstrosity,” said Geoffrey Croft, president of NYC Park Advocates.
Calls to the Maspeth Development went unreturned.
Plans for a park on 58th Street have been in the works since St. Saviour’s was removed in 2008, but each attempt to purchase the property has failed.
A Parks Department spokesperson said the agency is not looking to acquire the property at this time.
“We would be happy to examine any other suggested property acquisitions in the Maspeth community,” the spokesperson said.
“This community desperately needs more park space, and that’s not just a subjective feeling of people in the neighborhood, it’s a mathematical reality,” said Assemblymember Rory Lancman at a June 14 press conference with local leaders at the former site of St. Saviour’s.
The Parks Department said the goal is to ensure all New Yorkers live within a 10-minute walk of a park.
“Maspeth needs 88 acres of park land and they only have 12, do the math,” said Lorraine Scuilli, vice president of the Juniper Park Civic Association. “This should be a park any way we can get it.”
One of the ways to get the land for a park would be Eminent Domain, which was used just blocks away from the St. Saviour’s site for the reconstruction of the Kosciuszko Bridge.
If the land is secured, rebuilding the church, which currently sits in two trailers a few blocks away from the site, is a possibility. St. Saviour’s was deconstructed in 2008 after an attempt to landmark the church failed and the property was sold.
