Catholic Church Sells 200 West 97th Street to Housing Developers for $96M

The Roman Catholic Church has entered an agreement to sell its property at 200 West 97th Street on Manhattan’s Upper West Side to be redeveloped into new housing, according to the church.

Rockefeller Group and Atlas Capital Group acquired the property for $96 million. Under the agreement, the developers will preserve the existing church and rectory on the site while redeveloping underutilized parts of the campus into apartments, according to the Archdiocese of New York. The transaction is expected to close this spring.

The church, known as the Roman Catholic Church of Holy Name of Jesus and Saint Gregory the Great, will gain 9,500 square feet of space for religious programs, while housing will be built through the 485x tax abatement, which requires 25 percent of the units to be affordable. The project will also feature several amenities and retail space.

“This project demonstrates what’s possible when thoughtful development aligns with strong public policy and how it can address multiple community needs simultaneously,” representatives of the buyers said in a statement.

The archdiocese did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while the sellers did not immediately disclose how many units of housing the project would produce.

The Catholic Church has been reconfiguring its real estate portfolio in New York City recently, partly to pay settlements to victims of clergy abuse.

In early December, the ground lease for 455 Madison Avenue was sold to hotel operator Lotte New York Palace for $490 million. $200 million of that purchase will go toward a disbursement under the 2016 Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program.

Then in July, the archdiocese finalized the $103 million sale of 1011 First Avenue to the Vanbarton Group, which is planning an office-to-residential conversion of the archdiocese’s former headquarters after it consolidated its offices to 488 Madison Avenue.

Meanwhile, a school and rectory at 331-341 West 25th Street was sold to Timber Equities for $48 million in January 2025.

Spatial Equity and nonprofit developer Community Access also paid somewhere between $58 million and $68 million for 181 Avenue D in the East Village in mid-2024 to build about 570 housing units, kicking off an historic preservation debate.

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.