Condos Rescue a Synagogue

Dec. 23, 2015 — Thousand-foot condo towers for billionaire owners may be the big New York real estate story right now, but there are, happily, little stories that continue to go against the grain.

Here’s one: a century-old synagogue has been spared the wrecking ball by an ingenious new condo development. The Adas Yisroel Anshe Mezritch congregation, which has been worshipping at 415 E. 6th St. in the East Village since 1910 but recently fell on financial difficulties, has agreed to let East River Partners create three condo units on the upper floors of the building. In exchange, the developer will pay the congregation a $600,000 up-front payment, an annual contribution of $20,000 a year for the next 198 years, and a $180,000 “fit-out allowance” to rebuild the ground-floor sanctuary and basement space, as reported by The New York Times.

Two of the three upper-floor condo units will have the synagogue’s original stained-glass windows, some of which include Stars of David. The units will sell for $2.95 million to $4.39 million.

Charles Knapp, the pro bono lawyer for the synagogue, said East River Partners “were the saviors of this shul.”