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Plans Include A $4 Million Retrofit, Mixed-Use Performing Arts And Event Space
By Tina Traster
Established 1830. Nearly 17,000 square feet. Fewer than 50 families. More than 400 free weekly meals.
This is the story of the First Reformed Church of Nyack told in numbers. Like churches in towns and cities everywhere, this iconic Nyack house of worship tells the tale of dwindling congregations, the challenge of maintaining large often historic structures, and the much-needed mission to feed the hungry and poor.
Look around and you’ll see the sale of these buildings – snapped up by developers who convert them into for-profit uses including housing, boutique hotels, co-working spaces, and other creative adaptive reuses (when they’re not torn down entirely).
But here in Nyack, the First Reformed Church is on the cusp of a new life that incorporates elements of the church’s critical functions. The First Reformed Church at 18 South Broadway has been reborn “The Angel Nyack,” a mixed-use performing arts and event space that will preserve the building, allocate space on Sundays and holidays to the church, and continue serving meals on Mondays and Wednesdays to those in need.
The Angel Nyack, Inc., a nonprofit that will be run by a group of local citizens, purchased the First Reformed Church of Nyack at 18 South Broadway for $2.5 million. Financing for the acquisition in the amount of $2.675 million was provided 50 percent by the Susan Wilmink Revocable Trust and 50 percent by the Thomas Schneck Revocable Trust. The sale of the church property was approved by the Rockland County Supreme Court in May, 2024.
Both Schneck and Wilmink have been active in the community’s economic vitality. Schneck runs Visit Nyack, which relies on grants to promote the village. Wilmink is the founder of the Nyack Wedding Collective. The Angel Nyack’s name is a nod to Soup Angels of Nyack, the non-denominational, non-sectarian food assistance organization that has been operating the food kitchen in the church’s Pitkin room for 17 years.
“The church is 17,000 square-feet, big,” said Wilmink. “All churches with footprints that size struggle to survive.” Until recently, ARC’s tenancy stabilized the building by leasing office space. When the organization moved to 82 South Franklin Street, the congregation became nervous. They became increasingly distracted with the building, not the programs.
The sale of the building to The Angel Nyack bought the church a longer lease on their mission. The congregation will continue to have access to the church on Sundays and holidays for services and other functions, so long as The Angel Nyack succeeds. Meanwhile, the church reinvested $1.2 million for much-needed HVAC and roof renovations.
Around 1830 a group of local residents of Dutch Reformed faith began holding private religious services in Nyack. They built their first church on this site in 1836, were formally received into the Reformed Church in America in 1838, incorporated as The First Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. In 1901 the old structure was replaced by the present brick church with the landmark bell and clock tower.
“Churches are hard-pressed,” said Wilmink. “They have too much space, congregations aren’t what they used to be, people’s habits have changed. It’s hard to carve out time on a Sunday. Lifestyles are different now. The megachurches are on the fringes, they are more orthodox, evangelical, they’re doing well, but in the middle, churches are not serving.”
Wilmink’s vision to transform the space into a venue for weddings, entertainment and the arts isn’t a total departure for how churches like this one have always been used. With its good acoustics and multi-functional spaces, music and life’s milestones are a familiar part of a church’s function. Nevertheless, blueprints show The Angel Nyack’s plan includes removing the pews in the sanctuary to create a flexible open space for a variety of events. Wilmink says the nonprofit is in talks with both Arts Rock and Music for Life to rent space in the building.
The Angel Nyack has been applying for grants to transform the space, including incorporation into two unsuccessful $10 million DRI (Downtown Revitalization Initiative) grants, in which it was seeking $4 million for its retrofit. The organization has applied for a New York Forward Grant, and others. Among its most pressing needs is a $600,000 HVAC project to include air conditioning in the middle room, which cannot be used year-round.
“This is a big responsibility,” said Wilmink. “I wanted to do this because of all the things this building stands for: preservation, the Soup Angels, community.”
Wilmink says the organization will initiate a capital campaign in early 2025 to help support the cost of the transformation. She says a project like this one may require “cathedral thinking,” meaning its new vision may take time to evolve.
Church attendance nationally has been declining for decades; the pandemic has accelerated the decline. The percentage of adults attending regular religious services has dropped to about 30 percent, down from 42 percent two decades ago, and the percentage of Americans who say they never attend religious services has jumped to 17 percent from 11 percent a decade ago.
According to Religion News, up to 100,000 churches will close their doors in the coming years. The reasons are two-fold: there are more church pews than there are people to fill them, and most churchgoers prefer to be part of larger congregations, flocking to packed-out megachurches while those congregations with 60 or fewer people struggle to survive.
A new book, edited by the Reverend Mark Elsdon, a Presbyterian minister, author and social entrepreneur who works with churches on how to use their space, titled “Gone for Good?: Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition,” addresses the issue. The book’s chapters, each by a different expert, outline some of the changes facing smaller churches and the possible outcomes for former church buildings, from affordable housing to hubs for social entrepreneurship. Take the skateboarding enthusiasts who converted St. Liborius Church, a 150-year-old church in St. Louis, into an indoor skating park. Other abandoned churches are now roller rinks, bars or restaurants, professional offices, Airbnbs and even a cultural arts facilities connected to public schools.
In Cohoes, New York, the 40,000-square-foot St. Agnes Church was converted into the Connect Center, a youth-oriented community center. In Albany, Michelle Dinsmore transformed two churches—one into a vacation rental and the other into offices for the marketing studio she co-owns with her husband. The adaptive reuse won a Historic Albany Merit award.
The Purpl in Hastings, New York was a former church (formerly St. Stanislaus Kostka RC Church which merged into St. Matthews in Hastings in 2005, shuttered in 2014) turned into music venue/co-working space. Events sponsored at the Purpl includes open mic nights, stand-up comedy, community conversations, live music, dance nights, piano bar happy hours, meditation workshops, and more.
On Dec. 15, the First Reformed Church held its 100th annual Nativity pageant, a beloved Nyack tradition. So while church attendance may be dwindling, the community appreciates the continuity of holiday lure, the architectural splendor that makes the village richer, and the good works performed by those who help the hungry.
