Harlem church will give way to 12-story apartment building

Harlem’s 125th Street is the latest site of a Manhattan church-to-residential conversion: developer Haim Nortman is moving forward with a 12-story mixed-use building at what was once the LaGree Baptist Church. Plans were filed this week with the Department of Buildings, which offer some insight into what the developer has planned.

Earlier this year, Nortman picked up 27,500 square feet of air rights from an adjacent building, which will allow him to construct a 94,538-square-foot building in total. According to the DOB filings, it’ll rise 124 feet, with 71 apartments and more than 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Building amenities will include a children’s playroom, several terraces, and bike storage.

As the Real Deal notes, Nortman bought the church property itself for $28.5 million last year. Isaac & Stern is listed as the architect of record, and demolition permits for the existing church were filed last fall.

It’s one of many churches that have gone the development route in recent years—and in the past year alone, there’ve been several instances of Harlem congregations selling their buildings to developers.

• BK landlord plans 95K sf resi building on Harlem’s 125th St. [TRD]