MAP: Harlem’s Black Churches Cash in on Gentrification

This post was originally published on this site. Click here to read the post and view byline and photo credits etc.

 Over the last 10 years nearly two dozen Harlem churches have closed or been sold to developers, research shows. Harlem’s dwindling churches View Full Caption

HARLEM — Churches are losing members but gaining profits from gentrification. 

Nearly two dozen churches have either closed or been sold to developers for more than $50 million over the last decade, according to a review by DNAinfo New York and Harlem historian Michael Henry Adams.

The churches often sell because of a combination of factors including dwindling memberships, high maintenance costs and the lure of millions of dollars from developers ready to buy in Harlem.

More than half of the $53.1 million came from a single church — LaGree Baptist Church which sold for $28.5