The Central United Methodist Church in Fort Greene is poised to see major transformation after the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday approved plans for a 285-foot apartment tower rising from its base, according to Brownstoner.
LPC commissioners unanimously signed off on the revised plans for the adaptive reuse of the 1930s neo-Gothic church at 144 St. Felix Street after months of back and forth with the project’s design team, which includes FXCollaborative and ADP Architects, the news site reported. The building will likely be about 20 stories.
Over the past three months, the design team worked with LPC staff and presented updated plans to the commission multiple times, culminating in Tuesday’s meeting where commissioners said the revisions created a more appropriate project for the church structure and wider Brooklyn Academy of Music Historic District, Brownstoner said.
While the project has the support of LPC, neighbors at One Hanson Place are far from happy. In a statement ahead of the meeting, they said the design team repeatedly failed to show why the project is appropriate for the historic district, which they stress is not in Downtown Brooklyn or on the Flatbush Avenue corridor, the news site said.
In early 2024, the church’s congregation sold the property to an LLC for $15 million, citing dwindling membership and rising maintenance costs. The congregation already relocated services to Grace United Methodist Church in Park Slope, with the structure sitting vacant since 2019.
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