The Church acquired land in New York for the construction of a church as early as 1696
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MANHATTAN: FROM INDIANS TO THE ENGLISH
The land for the construction of Trinity Church was bought by the Church of England in 1696, writes «Lenta.ru». In 1705, Anne, Queen of Great Britain, increased the parish's holdings to 87 hectares. From the 1780s to the mid-19th century, the queen's grant, giving the church 25 hectares of land, was contested by the descendants of Anneke Jans Bogardus – a Dutch woman who previously owned the title to the land. The reason for the dispute was that only five of the six heirs agreed to transfer the land to the English crown in 1671. Attempts to sue the church for the land were made even in the 20th century, but also unsuccessfully.
Family clans love to stir up history, especially when it comes to large sums of money. In 2011, New York Magazine wrote that the Edwards family, namely the Pennsylvania Association of Edwards Heirs numbering four thousand people, was defending in federal court its right to a piece of Manhattan worth a total of $680 billion. The Edwardses reminded the court that in the 18th century, a pirate from Wales named Robert Edwards received 31 hectares of land on Manhattan from the British crown. In 1778, he leased the plot to Trinity Church for 99 years. Upon expiration of the contract, the church was supposed to return the land to the Edwardses, but did not keep its promise. The pirate's heirs continue to fight for this plot to this day.
Despite the fact that by today Trinity Church has sold most of the land granted by Queen Anne, this institution remains the largest landowner on Manhattan. As of 2011, it owned assets totaling $2 billion. The church owns six hectares on Manhattan, including 500 thousand square meters of commercial space in the Hudson Square area. The property brings it tens of millions of dollars in income annually, and, according to American laws, it is exempt from taxation.
Some churches in New York are selling off their plots because land in the city is expensive, and parishes need money to repair outdated buildings. For example, in spring 2014, according to Bloomberg, a Baptist church in the Washington Heights area put up for sale for $8 million a plot for housing development with an area of 6,270 square meters. Another church sold four hectares for housing construction on the Upper West Side. In Brooklyn, a Baptist church in 2014 sold for $20 million a plot of 5,800 thousand square meters for the construction of an apartment building.
In second place in terms of Manhattan holdings is Columbia University, the oldest university in New York State. According to The Observer, the university owns all buildings on both sides of 121st Street, except for one cooperative and a church. In third place in terms of property ownership is New York University. Together, both universities own approximately 3.2 million 'island' meters. At the same time, both have grandiose plans to expand their territories: local newspapers are literally full of headlines like 'Colleges That Ate New York'. Indeed, more and more square meters are going towards the construction of new university campuses.
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MANHATTAN: REAL ESTATE EMPIRES