Central Harlem Convent To Be Replaced By 7-Story Building

HARLEM, NY — A developer filed permits with the city Wednesday to construct a new 7-story building on the site of a convent near Marcus Garvey Park, records show.

The permits call for a residential building at 17 West 124th St., containing 33 apartments spread out over nearly 30,000 square feet. It will stand 75 feet tall — 17 feet taller than the four-story building that currently occupies the site.

Permits were filed in December to demolish the existing building, which houses the Franciscan Handmaids of Mary Convent.

The convent, one of just a few majority-Black female religious communities in the U.S., put their building on the market in 2017, a few years after nearly closing their doors permanently due to dwindling membership, the Amsterdam News reported.

"The sale of the Motherhouse will allow us to relocate to a smaller facility that is more suited to our current congregation size and planned expansion initiatives," Sister Gertrude Lilly Ihenacho told the Amsterdam News at the time.

The group celebrated its 100th anniversary with a gala in 2016, attended by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York.

No timeline was provided for when demolition of the current building or construction of the new one would begin.

The building site is immediately west of the New York Public Library's Harlem branch, and sits on the northern border of Marcus Garvey Park. Much of the surrounding blocks are landmarked, but the north side of the park is not, clearing the way for demolition, GothamToGo reported.