Episcopal Church Puts Manhattan HQ at 815 Second Avenue on the Market

The Episcopal Church, a religious organization headquartered at 815 Second Avenue in Midtown, is testing the waters for a potential sale or redevelopment — or both — of the building it has owned for decades. 

The 12-story, 146,000-square-foot property, known as Episcopal Church Center, sits on the corner of Second Avenue and East 43rd Street and has been largely vacant in recent years, as much of the church’s staff works remotely.

“We’ve done a detailed analysis about the best use of the building, with consultants and architects,” Chris Lacovara, the church’s chief financial officer, said in a statement announcing the sale. “We occupy a fraction of the Church Center space now, and the conclusion is that we don’t need to own and occupy a building in Midtown Manhattan.”

The church has been mulling what to do with its building since 2012, when it first announced it would be relocating its HQ.

Built in 1963 at a cost of $4 million, the office property has been home to the church since the building was completed, according to The Washington Post. But the ever-changing relationship Americans have with organized religion is forcing the church, and other institutions, to reevaluate their commercial real estate holdings, the Post reported. 

The church has hired Denham Wolf Real Estate Services to market the 63-year-old building. The real estate firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

“The size of our church and the structure of how we do things now, I don’t think we need a headquarters in Manhattan,” the Rev. William Coyne, a deputy from the Diocese of South Carolina, told the Episcopal News Service. “The geographic center of the church also has shifted over the years, with larger numbers of Episcopalians in the Southeastern United States. That might justify establishing a new headquarters in a more central American city.”

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.