The wrecking ball continues to swing ominously over Fourth Avenue.
The congregation of the Bay Ridge Jewish Center, 405 81st Street, voted last week to sell a portion of its property to a developer, months after rumors began circulating that the building – like the Green Church, just 11 blocks away — was an endangered species.
The plan, according to one source, is to demolish the existing curved Art Deco building, and put up two buildings in its place.
“One’s going to be rental units,” the source reported. “The other will have the synagogue and office space.”
“Certainly, it’s a sign of the times,” noted City Council-member Vincent Gentile, “with religious institutions opting for a quick fix in terms of selling property in this part of Brooklyn.
“That’s hot property,” Gentile went on, “and one that they can get a good price for, but it comes at the expense of selling off property that I believe was intended to be passed down through the generations. If their forebears did what this generation was doing, they wouldn’t have what they have now.
“They say they want to build a state-of-the-art synagogue and Jewish center,” Gentile added. “That’s great. But you have to ask the question, at what cost? In this case, it’s at the cost of giving up some of their property.”
Victoria Hofmo, the founder of the Bay Ridge Conservancy and a co-chairperson of Gentile’s preservation committee, said, “I feel sacred places should be sacred. It’s strange to me, off-putting.
“Of course, I want to see the congregation survive, but I think religious institutions need to have vision,” Hofmo went on. “It’s important for them to be solvent, but religious institutions are more than financial. They have to serve people.
“Is market rate housing the best way to serve people?” she asked, pointing out that other congregations had found other ways to stabilize their finances without resorting to selling their property.
Hofmo also noted that changing times had affected the real estate market. “What’s happening is the market is going down,” she pointed out. “It’s very hard to get financing. They are going into a very risky market.”
One rumor – still unconfirmed – is that the likely developer of the site is a Gindi. But, not one related to the family that has made Century 21 Depart-ment Stores a legend, said Betty Cohen, the director of government relations for the retailer.
“The Gindi family of Century 21,” Cohen told this paper, “does not own that parcel of land. It is not in the process of buying that parcel. That is 100 percent correct.”
Calls to the Bay Ridge Jewish Center requesting comment were not returned by press time.
