Children's Museum Of Manhattan To Expand Into Historic UWS Church

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — The Children's Museum of Manhattan is poised to expand its facilities on the Upper West Side by moving into a historic church building in the neighborhood.

The museum recently purchased the church on the corner of Central Park West and West 96th Street for $45 million, public real estate records show. The sale was closed on Dec. 22 and first reported by The Real Deal.

Museum officials told The Real Deal that the church building will be renovated into a new facility for the museum.

"We look forward to discussing our vision with the community in more detail in the coming weeks, as we begin the formal planning and design process to reactivate the building into a world-class children’s museum for families to visit, explore, and feel part of our great city," Andrew Ackerman, the museum's executive director, told The Real Deal in a statement.

The church building had previously housed the congregations of the First Church of Christ, Scientist and the Crenshaw Christian Center East. The Crenshaw Christian Center East purchased the building in 2004 for an unknown sum and sold it to an entity named 361 Central Park West LLC in 2014 for $26 million, according to city real estate records.

The Children's Museum of Manhattan is currently located on West 83rd Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue.

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