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Push for sleek rebuild of church lost on 9/11
It’s a resurrection nearly 20 years in the making.
Construction will resume Monday on the new St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in lower Manhattan, filling a gaping hole left when the original house of worship was destroyed in the 9/11 terror attacks.
These mock-ups, exclusively obtained by The Post, show off the majesty of a site that will stand as tribute to the resolve of not just the church’s flock, but all New Yorkers.
“Monday’s going to be a very emotional day. A powerful day,” said Michael Psaros, vice chairman of The Friends of St. Nicholas, which formed in January to get the project back on the right track after years of scandal and mismanagement. “Another powerful symbol to the world of the resurrection of all of Ground Zero and New York City.”
Named for the patron saint of sailors, the original St. Nicholas opened its doors on Cedar Street in 1916, quickly becoming the first stopping point for Greek immigrants after they left Ellis Island. It served the community for 85 years, retaining a quaint, old-world charm as skyscrapers rose around it.
When the south tower of the World Trade Center came crashing down on New York’s darkest day, it took St. Nicholas with it.
Then-Gov. George Pataki and leaders of the Greek Orthodox Church resolved almost immediately to begin rebuilding St. Nicholas, but the effort was hamstrung by a litany of issues. The saga included rampant cost overruns amounting to millions of dollars; legal squabbles between the church and the Port Authority, which owns the Liberty Street site of the new St. Nicholas; and top church executives being convicted or accused of pilfering funds meant for the project.
By January 2020, the church sat half-finished and untouched for two years with the coffers bare. Then, Gov. Cuomo and PA head Rick Cotton met with Archbishop Elpidophoros, Father Alex Karloutsos and the leaders of The Friends of St. Nicholas — Psaros, Chairman Dennis Mehiel and vice chairman John Catsimatidis — and resolved to get the project done.
“We lost a tremendous, great religious institution [in] what happened on 9/11,” said Catsimatidis, a grocery-store mogul. “[Reopening will be] a victory for all New Yorkers.”
The group undertook a massive fundraising drive that, in just 90 days, amassed the $45 million necessary to complete the project, including a $10 million donation from the family of late real-estate mogul and LA Chargers owner Alex Spanos.
Construction was set to resume in the spring — “then COVID hit,” said Psaros, grounding all non-essential projects statewide to a halt. It will begin again Monday when a crane lowers the first skylight into the church’s dome, in a ceremony presided over by Cuomo and Archbishop Elpidophoros, the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in America.
The aim is to have it open Sept. 11, 2021 — the 20th anniversary of the attacks.