Rivington Files Plans to Convert Two Bridges Church Into Housing

Rivington Company is trying its hand at a church-to-residential conversion in Lower Manhattan’s Two Bridges neighborhood.

Travis Stabler, founder and principal at Rivington, filed plans earlier this month to convert the former church building at 53 Catherine Street, also known as 1 Monroe Street, into 38 housing units with 8,491 square feet of retail space on the first floor, according to a filing with the city’s Department of Buildings.

Spokespeople for Rivington and Studio V Architecture, the architect listed on the project, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The New York Business Journal first reported the news.

The building on the corner of Catherine and Monroe streets — midway between the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge that give the Two Bridges neighborhood its name — housed the Church of St. Joachim for decades until 2015, when the church shuttered. An affiliate of Rivington bought the property from the church in December 2023 for $14.5 million, property records show.

If its proposal is approved, Rivington will turn the church into a roughly 61,000-square-foot building with amenities including a residential lobby, gym, lounge and a roof terrace, according to the filing. The estimated job cost is $5.1 million.

Church conversion projects seem to be growing more popular in Manhattan, as developers seek aging properties ripe for residential potential.

In July, Elmo Realty secured $27.5 million in construction financing to build a 126-unit multifamily building at a former historic church site at 1763-1771 Amsterdam Avenue in West Harlem, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

Meanwhile, on the office side, Vanbarton Group finalized plans earlier this month to convert the Archdiocese of New York’s former headquarters in Midtown East into 420 residential units, CO reported.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.