A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 23

This is the 14th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Because the best way to come up with a great story idea is to come up with a lot of ideas. And the best way to come up with a lot of ideas is to be proactive in sourcing story ideas.

Today’s story: Crumbling Upper West Side church sues to evict nonprofit as it seeks $33.5M sale.

The battle over the landmarked, but crumbling, West-Park Presbyterian Church at Amsterdam Ave. and West 86th St. has moved onto a second front: Manhattan Supreme Court.

The tiny congregation wants to sell the 140-year-old building to developer Alchemy for $33.5 million. As Realty Check previously reported, the church has appealed to the Landmarks Preservation Commission to revoke its landmark status on hardship grounds. The LPC is expected to consider the application soon after Labor Day.

Alchemy would raze the church to build a 20-story apartment building that would include a large community center and a new facility for worshipers — a move fiercely opposed by local preservationists. Some of the activists’ views from their apartments would be blocked by the new building.

Meet the Reverend Lindsay McMillan and her nine year-old daughter Acacia. They have just moved into the ramshackle parson’s apartment connected to the even more ramshackle Grace Presbyterian Church. An official historic landmark, the church happens to be situated on the corner of one of the city’s most upscale streets.

It is home to a dying congregation. Literally. The average age of the forty-eight congregants is seventy-three with one going to meet their Maker every two months or so.

Lindsay, who is thirty-eight, got divorced five years ago and decided to change vocations. A successful lawyer, she quit her job and attended Yale Divinity School where she obtained a Masters of Divinity degree. Recently ordained, this is her very first full-time position as a minister.

It’s an exciting time for Lindsay. What she doesn’t know is the church leadership is determined to change the church’s landmark status, so they can sell the property for $45 million, then build a condominium complex.

And so it is on Lindsay’s first day on the job, she learns that unless the congregation can show substantial growth, the city commission is going to overturn the church’s landmark status opening the way for the sale of the property.

Lindsay asks what they mean by “substantial growth.” The response: By the end of the year, the church needs to have 1,000 people on average attending Sunday worship services..

The leader of the church committee who hired Lindsay is Naomi Burke. She is also a real estate developer and heavily involved in the effort to sell the church property, having positioned her company to be the outfit which will build the condominium complex.

In fact, Naomi hired Lindsay knowing she would provide weak opposition to her plans.

She underestimated Lindsay who concocts a scheme. Since the language is simply “congregants” and does not stipulate “Christian” or “Presbyterian,” Lindsay pitches the facility for use by Jewish, Muslim, Bahai, Sikh, and every oddball assortment of religious groups.

It’s a race against time, powerful lay leaders, and conventional Protestant practices in this drama-comedy to save the venerable church.

There you go, my 23rd story idea of the month. And it’s yours. Free! What would YOU do with it?

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15
Day 16
Day 17
Day 18
Day 19
Day 20
Day 21
Day 22

Each day in April, I invite you to join me in comments to do some brainstorming. Take each day’s story idea and see what it can become when we play around with it. These are valuable skills for a writer to develop.

See you in RESPONSES to hear YOUR take on this story idea. And come back tomorrow for another Story Idea Each Day For A Month.