The Van Cortlandt Jewish Center (VCJC) announced Monday that it has voted to sell its property on Sedgwick Avenue to developer Barone Management for $4 million, following years of controversy and concern from some congregation members and local residents.
The private developer will build a new, 5,000 square foot synagogue for the congregation, but further development plans are uncertain, with Barone Management floating the idea of either constructing a school or following through with one of several plans for residential apartments up to 16 stories high.
In the interim, most of the existing VCJC building, which is 33,000-square-feet, will be leased to a charter school for a two year period with an optional third year to extend, according to VCJC’s statement detailing key points of the sale agreement.
However, not everyone supports the agreement, with some expressing concerns that congregation members were pressured to vote without fully understanding the plan and that VCJC leadership may not have been entirely transparent with either the congregation or the broader community.
Louise Salant, a lifelong member of VCJC, attended the vote Sunday on behalf of herself and two other concerned congregants who felt they lacked sufficient information to make an informed decision. At the meeting, she read a statement urging that the vote be postponed until final contract negotiations were completed.
“We ask that you don’t ask for a vote on any resolution today until a contract and lease agreement have been presented in advance, so that membership can review it and be fully informed,” the statement said.
Salant told the Bronx Times she was concerned that the details the congregation voted on Sunday could still change.
“ How can you possibly vote on a sale without a completed contract?” Salant said. “Because anything could go in it afterwards.”
But Board of Trustees Chair Jack Kleinfeld told the Bronx Times in a statement that as far as VCJC was concerned, the deal was done.
“There are a few minor areas in the contract that need to be finalized, but they do not and will not affect the overall structure of the deal, its value to the synagogue, or how the community is affected,” Kleinfeld said. “If significant changes to the PSA are made, then we will bring it back to the membership. That is extremely unlikely to be necessary.”
The center, which has been a hub of spiritual solace and accessible community services since the 1960s, has been planning the sale of its building since 2019.
VCJC leadership told the Bronx Times in 2024 that with a dwindling congregation and a looming financial cliff, the religious institution’s options were limited. When the center was first built, its congregation of some 700 members needed the extra space, but now the around 60 members of the center can only financially sustain a much smaller building.
“The reality is that we can sell the building and maintain a viable congregation or keep the building and go bankrupt,” Kleinfeld said at the time.
Since then, neighbors said that a previous and controversial agreement with the private developer Innovative Development Construction fell through once VCJC tried to negotiate a condo style ownership of a small portion of the property. The latest sale to Barone Management preserves ownership of the new synagogue for the VCJC, alleviating one, but not all concerns for residents and congregants.
Petr Stand, who has owned a home with his wife in the community for nearly 40 years, told the Bronx Times this week that he was relieved Innovative Development Construction was no longer in the picture. He is more receptive to the Barone concept.
“ Of all the different deals that I’ve seen put on the table, this one seems the most reasonable and seems to fit in best with the community,” Stand said.
But Stand, who retired from his career as a partner at an architecture firm, said he still has concerns about future development that could price some older residents living on a fixed income out of the neighborhood.
Specifically, Stand, Salant and neighbors like Gary Axelbank are worried that the private developer plans to build market rate housing on the property, units they say would not be affordable to the existing residents. However, the VCJC’s announcement of the sale made no mention of housing development, only highlighting a lease of 2-3 years to the charter school, and the new synagogue for the congregation.
But documents shared with the Bronx Times from the VCJC to its members in March, showed diagrams of the possible construction of one seven-story and one nine-story residential buildings or alternatively a single 16 story residential building. Barone Management could not be reached for comment.
Stand said that residential housing for the area didn’t have to be a zero-sum game.
“ There are plenty of programs that exist within the city and the state of New York, so they can have a sliding income band,” Stand said. “Have some market rate and have some affordable units and maybe some units for the elderly. So I think that is still a concern to myself and some of my neighbors.”
State Assembly Member Jeffery Dinowitz, who represents the district which encompasses VCJC, told the Bronx Times in a statement that while he respects property rights, he shared the community’s concerns about preserving the character and affordability of the neighborhood, and questioned how long the charter school would stay in the building.
“I am very concerned that that block is turning into one large construction zone, negatively impacting the character of the neighborhood,” Dinowitz said. “The loss of single-family homes in favor of large buildings and the potential for a large building on this site in the future is disturbing. I do hope that any housing built on that block is affordable housing.”
Innovative Development Construction already purchased at least two other lots on the block with plans to build an eight story, 42 unit residential apartment building, as the Riverdale Press reported last year. If Barone Management were to choose to construct residential units over a new school, there could be up to three apartment buildings all over six stories high in an area that used to have one and two family homes.
The sale also means displacing beloved community services that rented space from VCJC like the Early Childhood Education Center operated by the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center. A senior center run by the Jewish Association Serving the Aging (JASA), which ran a popular community lunch program serving kosher meals, ended their lease with the VCJC last year.
Also uncertain, is the fate of the historic Denishawn House, a nearly 100 year old house that is part of the VCJC site that served as an early modern dance studio and recognized by the NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project, although it lacks an official landmark designation. Neighbors worry Barone Management plans to sacrifice the historic house to market rate housing.
Axelbank, a longtime Van Cortlandt Village resident whose parents were founding members of VCJC, told the Bronx Times that the center should be listening to the needs of the surrounding community, which includes older residents who were served by JASA and young families that used the Early Childhood Education Center.
“ For a religious institution to do things with the door closed and not include people from their very community who have served them and been members and been part of their community for years, and lock them out of negotiation and potentially put together a deal that does not reflect their needs and interests is sacrilegious and very, very sad,” Axelbank said.
Salant echoed her neighbor’s sentiments.
“The Van Cortlandt Jewish Center is not a development company,” Salant said. “We are a religious organization that should be looking out for the needs of the community. I don’t feel with this sale, we have any guarantee that the developer is going to look out for our needs.”
Kleinfeld told the Bronx Times in a statement that while the Board of Trustees major concern was keeping the congregation in-tact and maintaining a place of worship, that the community’s additional concerns were not being ignored. He said that VCJC was doing what it could to try and start another senior citizen program and restore the popular lunch program but stressed that he felt the Board has met its obligations as an organization.
“The Board’s responsibility was to do the work entrusted to them without making the details public in order to get it done properly, to the best interest of the VCJC, and in a manner consistent with the fiduciary responsibilities of the Board,” Kleinfeld said.
