UWS Catholic Church Property Sold to Developer for $96 Million
Rockefeller Group and Atlas Capital Group plan to transform a former school, convent and gym into residential housing. The deal does not include the 136-year-old Gothic revival church of Holy Name of Jesus, which remains a functioning parish church.
| 02 Feb 2026 | 04:18
Photo of 200 West 97th street which is being sold to developers. The 136-year old Gothic revival church (visible in distance) is not part of the deal. (
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The former home of St. Gregory the Great was unusual in that the church and a rectory occupied the first two floors while what was once a Catholic grammar school, made with less expensive red brick was stacked on top of it. The parish was merged into Holy Name in 2015 and the church was deconsecrated in 2017. (
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The New York Archdiocese, which appears to be accelerating its sell off long closed parish facilities, is selling off property belonging to the Holy Name of Jesus and Saint Gregory the Great Roman Catholic parishes on the Upper West Side to the Rockefeller Group and Atlas Capital Group.
The deal, announced Jan. 30 is expected to close this upcoming spring. The Holy Name’s 136 year old Gothic revival church and its rectory is still being preserved as the parish will retain its core facilities and gain an additional 9,500 square footage of newly built space for religious programs and classrooms.
The developers said they plan to transform the property at 200 W. 97th St. near Amsterdam Ave which contains a school, a convent and a recreation building, into a mixed-income residential rental building. St. Gregory’s Church on W. 90th St. was already deconsecrated in 2017 following the parishes merger into Holy Name of Jesus two years earlier.
Like Holy Name, St. Gregory was built at a time when the Catholic population on the Upper West side was surging around the turn of the last century. Babe Ruth was married in the rectory of St. Gregory’s in 1929 and former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly lived in the St. Gregory parish as a youngster before the family moved to Queens. The parish traces its roots to 1907 and its first Masses took place in a former stable on 119 West 89th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues. The site of the building that became the parish on 114 W. 90th St. was unusual in that it contained a church on the ground floor with a parochial school and rectory stacked on top of it.
Holy Name was always ornate. It contains five marble altars and features a replica of Da Vinci’s Last Super painting carved in onyx in the main center altar. Today, it has emerged as a center of social activism and co-sponsors an interdenominational annual march for peace with nearby Episcopalian and Lutheran chures. A fire that erupted in a church organ in 1997 was used as a fundraising opportunity to undertake needed renovations of the Holy Name church building.
The real estate deal will leverage New York’s 485-x tax incentive program. Under this state initiative that was passed in April of 2024, developers receive partial property tax exemptions in exchange for setting aside at least 25 percent of units as affordable housing. This specifically targets households earning roughly between $46,620 and $62,150 annually. This program, known as Affordable Neighborhoods for New Yorkers (ANNY), applies to new constructions and conversions with six or more units and requires permanent affordability for the designated units.
As of now, the exact number of units and building dimensions remain undisclosed. However, it is detailed that the ground floor will include a retail space along the southwest corner of West 97th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.
”This project demonstrates what’s possible when thoughtful development aligns with strong public policy and how it can address multiple community needs simultaneously,” said representatives from Rockefeller Group and Atlas Capital Group in a joint statement. They emphasized the importance of addressing community needs, which especially applies to areas where there are gaps in affordable housing.
The Rockefeller Group, which was founded in 1928 has a long history of real estate projects in Manhattan, stretching back to the construction of Rockefeller Center which opened in 1939. A 2.6 million-square-foot 52 story office tower at 1221 Sixth Avenue which opened in the 1970s, was the former McGraw-Hill Building, which was initially a joint development with the publishing company. The Rockefeller Group’s more recent residential developments include a 35-story building at 200 East 83rd Street. Atlas Capital counts a 100-unit condo at 80 Clarkson Street and the 17-story rental at 570 Washington Street in the West Village among its signature buildings.
The Archdiocese of New York has increasingly sold real estate in recent years to help fund settlements for clergy sexual abuse survivors amid ongoing financial pressures. In December of 2025, shortly before Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s retirement, the Archdiocese announced plans to raise at least $300 million for a global mediation process to compensate 1,300 claims alleging abuse dating back decades. Recent deals include the $490 million sale of the ground lease beneath the Lotte New York Palace Hotel at 455 Madison Avenue and the $103 million sale of its former headquarters at 1011 First Avenue to be converted into apartments. Now, the current $96 million transaction for the church site at 200 West 97th Street acts as another step of monetizing unused property.
The development is expected to close in spring 2026, with construction timelines to follow permitting and design finalization, potentially adding dozens of mixed-income rental units to the Upper West Side housing market in the coming years.