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Big Building Goes up on Sacred Land; Only Poor People Lose View
By
Jacob Dobkin
Published Apr 4, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jacob Dobkin
Published Apr 4, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Here's a sad story about Morningside Heights' real estate, courtesy of the New York Times:
A 20-story, 300-unit rental apartment building would rise on the southeast corner of the grounds of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine under a deal nearing completion between the cathedral's trustees and AvalonBay Communities Inc.
The building, which would partly block views of the cathedral from the Manhattan Valley neighborhood below, is the first of two potential development projects on the 11.3-acre Close, as the grounds are known.
Clad in brick along Cathedral Parkway, with a metal-and-glass facade rounding the corner to Morningside Drive, the new building would replace a playground, a rose garden and a rocky embankment that now sit behind a chain-link fence. The play area would move to a spot alongside the cathedral nave and the garden would be shifted slightly westward. A 150-space parking garage would be built under the apartment building.
Construction starts later this year. The apartments will rent for about $3000 for a one-bedroom. In an unrelated announcement, Jesus said the moneylenders are now "totally welcome in the temple."
Also, for those of you praying for a real estate bubble crash, some bad news: Manhattan apartment sale prices are actually UP 7% over this quarter last year, with an average price of more than $1.3m.
Tagged
architecture
bubble
Cathedral Church
church
construction
crash
heights
jesus
manhattan
morningside drive
morningside heights
new york
new york times
parking
parking garage
real estate
Jacob Dobkin
Jake Dobkin co-founded Gothamist with Jen Chung. In 2019, Jake released Ask a Native New Yorker, a book based on his Gothamist advice column.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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