Bricks and Mortals partnered with students to produce a Faith in Place: A Study and Analysis of Faith-Based Organizations and Real Estate in New York City.
A 20-year-old college student in Texas is mapping every Manhattan address that used to be a synagogue
Shreeve has 1,016 former synagogues in her database and expects the project to wind up soon. She hopes to find records for the other boroughs, especially Brooklyn.
Bricks and Mortals Garners Strong Support from NYC Mayoral Candidates
New York City’s Houses of Worship are at a crossroads. Maintaining a brick-and-mortar presence in our city has always been an expensive proposition, especially for non-profit organizations like our Houses of Worship. This past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has added even greater headwinds to what is already a daunting challenge for our faith-based community. Faced […]
A Recent Report Highlights Congregations’ Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
The pandemic has reconfigured faith-based organizations’ relationships with their buildings and their communities. This report reiterates the deep connection between faith institutions and their communities.
Grunin Prize Recognizes That, In Impact Investing, Lawyers Are Innovative, Too
Called the 2020 Grunin Prize for Law and Social Entrepreneurship, it was awarded to a legal team at Goldstein Hall, a law firm in New York City that devised a way for community development corporations to band together, the better to develop affordable multifamily housing in the Big Apple.
Forum recently held to discuss faith-based topics
‘An Invitation to Faith and Non-Profit Communities’ forum was held on Tuesday, October 29.
For Churches, a Temptation to Sell
While some sites are still holes in the ground, replacement buildings elsewhere are up and running. A longtime synagogue on West 179th Street, for instance, has given way to the Ammann, an eight-story, 24-unit condo from Orient Development. The Washington Heights Congregation, which relocated to an existing building nearby, sold the site in 2014 for $2.6 million.
Houses of worship grappling with Harlem’s development boom
“We’ve repaired the roof four or five times already, and the same thing happens,” Rev. Darnell Harper said. “It is definitely a building that is breaking down.”
New York’s Trinity Church has a diverse investment portfolio worth $6 billion
Much of the church’s financial success has been attributed to their tax-exempt status as well as wise management of their holdings which can be traced to a gift of 215 acres from Queen Anne in 1705.
Reimagine worship spaces, resurrect churches from disuse
Still others create in their empty sanctuaries workstations that people can use at no or little cost. They remove the pews to make space for people to do yoga or sleep or work or all three. They resurrect unused or dusty — or even moldy — spaces.