Actor Matt Damon has joined a growing list of celebrities seeking to prevent a historic church on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City from being torn down and turned into a $30 million luxury condominium.
According to The Christian Post, Damon’s efforts to save West Park Presbyterian Church, located at 165 W 86th Street, includes a performance of the play “This Is Our Youth” on Nov. 16 for The Center at West Park, a not-for-profit community performing arts center located inside the Romanesque Revival building. Attendance at the church has dwindled down to 12 in recent years.
He joins other celebrities, such as actors Mark Ruffalo and Wendell Pierce, comedian Amy Schumer, and rapper and actor Common, in the fight to save the building.
As reported by The New York Times, the church was made a NYC landmark despite the congregation’s wishes.
In 2022, church leaders signed a binding contract with the condominium’s developer since they could not afford a $2 million repair bill. Additionally, they filed a hardship application wanting to de-landmark and demolish the building for the condominium, which will also include worship space for the church.
So far, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) has evaluated the church’s hardship application. During a public meeting on Oct. 31, the LPC examined an independent analysis they commissioned, with some commissioners recommending a number of alternative uses for the church, including a daycare center or event venue.
Although the LPC’s hardship statute calls for a reasonable return on a 6 percent investment necessary to repair the church, that return could not be received if a third party owns the building.
“As an elder of the church and a founding member of the Center at West Park, I’m also frustrated with the difficult position we find ourselves in today. We helped create the Center in 2017 to celebrate the arts while fundraising for repairs to the building. Still, the funds never came through despite more than a decade of promises and commitments from local leaders,” Marsha Flowers, ruling elder of the West Park Presbyterian Church and a founding board member of the Center at West Park, told The Christian Post in a statement.
“Our congregation is now focused on creating a new space for worship and the arts, and we hope to use our proceeds to help other churches meet their mission and avoid circumstances like ours.”
Tickets for the play, written by Kenneth Longergon, will start at $500 on Nov. 16, with a second performance the next day at $250. Additionally, there will be some seats on the second day of the play where people can pay whatever they want.
“For over a decade, the board of the Center at West Park has been working to preserve this important NYC landmark as an accessible cultural resource for the local neighborhood and the NYC performing arts community,” the Center at West Park explained on the campaign page.
“The Center at West Park is a vital and thriving artistic and cultural hub. Since 2017, the center has presented more than 300 performances to over 15,000 audience members,” the group adds.
“Together, we can make our voices heard and show that our community wants more accessible and inclusive spaces for arts and culture, not another luxury high-rise development.”
As of Friday, the campaign has raised close to $20,000 out of its $250,000 goal.
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Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for Christian Headlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
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