CLINTON HILL — A local church plans to construct a 16-story residential building on Classon Avenue while razing its current parish house and rectory to make way for the development.
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church is planning the 142-unit building at 230 Classon Ave., between Willoughby and Myrtle avenues, according to a permit application filed with the Department of Buildings.
The 119,307-square-foot building will include 97,283 square feet of residential space and 25,264 square feet of community space, according to the filings, which were first reported by The Real Deal.
The apartments will start on the second floor and run to the 16th floor, the filings show.
The building will feature a community space, a coffee bar, a rooftop "recreation space," bike storage, a choir room, classrooms, offices, meeting rooms, a parish hall, a library, a reading room and 93 parking spaces.
The new building will replace the 8,000-square-foot parish house, which sits to the west of the 1858 church, said St. Mary's priest-in-charge Fr. Jerry Keucher, who noted that the new building will allow the church to expand its community programming, such as 12-step programs and church meetings.
The church’s rectory at the corner of Willoughby and Classon avenues will also be demolished and converted into a landscaped open space that will allow passersby to see the landmarked church, which owns a 99-year ground lease on the property, Keucher said.
“That works really well because right now as you’re coming on Classon and Willoughby, you can’t see the distinctive architectural nature of the church that made it worthy to be a landmark,” the priest explained.
Demolition plans have yet to be filed for the parish house or rectory.
Two of the building’s apartments will go to the rector and clergy, while the rest will be rentals, Keucher said.
The apartments will most likely rent at market rates, as the property isn’t zoned under the mayor’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program and the 421-a tax program has expired, he added.
“We would like that, and I think the developer would be fine with that, but there’s no program for it,” he said, declining to name the developer working on the project.
DXA Studio Architecture will design the new building.
