Real Estate

Longtime Hell's Kitchen Women's Home Faces Demolition, Plans Show

Centro Maria gave generations of young women a cheap place to stay. Its owner, the Catholic Church, may sell the site to cover abuse claims.

Plans were filed​ with the city on Thursday to demolish the four-story brick building on West 54th Street that housed the Centro Maria Residence. Built in 1910 between 10th and 11th avenues, the building was also home to St. Ambrose's Church.
Plans were filed​ with the city on Thursday to demolish the four-story brick building on West 54th Street that housed the Centro Maria Residence. Built in 1910 between 10th and 11th avenues, the building was also home to St. Ambrose's Church. (Google Maps)

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — A Hell's Kitchen residence that gave generations of young women a cheap, safe place to live may be torn down, about a year after its owner — the Archdiocese of New York — pushed out its last remaining tenants ahead of a possible sale.

Plans were filed with the city on Thursday to demolish the four-story brick building on West 54th Street that housed the Centro Maria Residence. Built in 1910 between 10th and 11th avenues, the building was also home to St. Ambrose's Church.

Centro Maria was part of New York's dying breed of all-women's apartment buildings, charging about $215 per week for a shared room, complete with meals cooked by the Catholic nuns who staffed the residence.

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Though it was well-loved by the women who called it home over a period of decades, Centro Maria was emptied out in August 2020. The Catholic Church told tenants that it had to sell the building to raise money for the hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits that had been filed against it through the Child Victims Act, according to reporting by THE CITY.

"As a former resident, as someone who has had close associations with Centro, it saddens me," one woman who lived at Centro Maria in the 1970s told THE CITY last year. "I feel it is such, such, such a loss."

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The building had been listed for sale by the real estate firm JLL, which described the site as "an outstanding development opportunity."

"The existing structure consists of dorm style rooms, common area spaces, a cafeteria and chapel," the listing states.

Reached for comment by Patch, Jonathan Hageman, one of two brokers handling the property, said a sale had not yet closed but declined to comment about the buyer's identity or future plans for the Centro Maria building. The demolition plans still list Catholic Charities, an arm of the Archdiocese, as the owner.

Catholic Charities hoped to find a new location for Centro Maria, an official told THE CITY last year, but the organization did not immediately respond to questions Friday about whether any such location had been found.

"We continue to entrust to your prayers that we will soon find another home to continue the work," reads an Oct. 15 post on a blog affiliated with the residence, titled in Spanish: "56 years of service to young women in NYC."

A listed phone number for Centro Maria was disconnected on Friday. A phone call and email to the Archdiocese of New York were not immediately returned.


Have a Hell's Kitchen news tip? Email reporter Nick Garber at nick.garber@patch.com.



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