In New York City's frenzied housing market, new properties may be flooding the market from an unlikely place. Many aged and decaying synagogues have real estate developers waiting on the sidelines for the chance to cash in on the valuable space. In such a limited market, there isn't much room to build new condos or properties and developers are looking at synagogues as their next project.
Those who run these fading temples find it hard to resist the millions of
dollars that have been offered to turn the synagogues into condos. Many
find it difficult to keep the buildings up, let alone maintained, with such small congregations.
Over the years many synagogues have been converted into apartment buildings or condos due to changing demographics and strong demand for real estate in the city. Often times the apartments or condos still have remnants of the original synagogue such as the Star of David inscription still visible on a building's facade. Many temples fade away as Jews move to the suburbs.
These converted temples offer both the congregation a chance to revive the synagogue with an infusion of money, and home buyers a chance to purchase new real estate in the city. Another option developers have accepted is the converting of former state mental hospitals into condos or apartment buildings.
Some even have dated nicknames such as the “lunatic asylum.” Even the Danvers State Hospital, once described, “the scariest building in the world” has been converted and waiting for people to buy. No units are on the market just yet but similar projects have had much success leading the developers to be optimistic.
Six hundred people signed up to buy the first 60 homes built in a $500 million project at the former Dammasch State Hospital in Wilsonville, Oregon, 20 miles south of Portland.
At the former New York City Lunatic Asylum on Manhattan’s Roosevelt Island, the Octagon, rent s are 10% higher than expected. Studio apartments start at $1,700. Many say the lure of such asylum conversions is in the mystery. Nobody can be sure about the events that occurred within but most are sure they are not haunted. Many like the conversions because of the ample parking space and short commute to the city.
Many of the asylums have been closed down for years and left vacant as treatment moved away from crowded institutions in favor of small group homes. Many see the conversions as a welcoming renovation from dreary and empty to full and vibrant with life. Most developers do not mention the properties’ past use as asylums. |
