A former church site in Chelsea is set to be redeveloped into residential buildings. Timber Equities has filed plans with the city to construct two 14-story towers at 335 and 345 West 25th Street, according to documents submitted by Hill West Architects principal David West.
The developer acquired the property, previously home to the St. Columba campus, for $48.25 million in August. The site includes a school, convent, and rectory with 200 feet of frontage on West 25th Street. Marketing materials highlighted that the location is zoned for residential use as-of-right and may qualify for the city’s 485x tax abatement.
Each building will have about 100,000 gross square feet and will contain a total of 197 rental units—98 in one tower and 99 in the other. “The development will make use of the city’s 485x tax abatement and universal affordability preference density bonus,” said Timber Equities principal Mitch Perle in an email.
Timber Equities has experience with both completed and ongoing rental projects across New York City, particularly in uptown Manhattan and the Bronx. Earlier this year, it finished a luxury rental building with 60 units in Inwood on land formerly owned by Manuel Geovanny Rodriguez-Perez.
Conversions of religious properties into housing developments have increased recently. Kalel Companies and Masjid Abdul Muhsi Khalifah mosque announced plans for a mixed-use project featuring 144 senior housing units in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The Vanbarton Group purchased the Catholic Church’s former headquarters at 1011 First Avenue for $103 million earlier this year. Over the summer, Spatial Equity and Community Access agreed to buy another Archdiocese property at 181 Avenue D for at least $58 million; they plan to build a fully affordable housing community with up to 570 units.
