By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BAY RIDGE — Two years ago, developer Abe Betesh gladly signed a $9.75-million deal to buy the Bay Ridge United Methodist Church property. But now that the wrecking ball has demolished the historic 1899 building, it appears his plans have been knocked down, too.

At the site of the “green church� destroyed in mid-October, Betesh has posted a “For Sale or Lease� sign this week, the same week the site, at Fourth and Ovington avenues, was featured in a New York Times article about preservation of houses of worship in the city.

The Bensonhurst-based firm of Abeco Management Corporation, headed by Betesh, posted the sign with Abeco’s phone number. The sign reads: “For Sale or Lease – School, Medical, Not-for-Profit or Residential.�

The historic church was bulldozed after a three-year campaign to save it by local preservationists and elected officials failed. Betesh’s plans call for it to be replaced by a 70-unit residential building — a proposal twice rejected by the city’s Department of Buildings — and a new smaller church more suited to the congregation’s size and needs.

A possible nursing facility for the aged may be placed in the site’s remaining brown brick building if it is renovated, according to congregation members who saw the proposal. Until this past June, the building was home to a HeartShare Human Services early childhood educational center.

Also, the city’s School Construction Authority has been scouting sites in Bay Ridge to build a new elementary school to relieve overcrowding in local public schools, but it is not known if the SCA has considered the site. It is studying the site of a closed car wash at Fourth Avenue and 88th Street.

Local observers have noted that the future status of the property is being affected by the downturn in the real estate market and the economic recession, which may become one of the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s unless strident remedies resolve it.

The Bay Ridge United Methodist Church was highlighted in the New York Times “Preserving the City� series, Part Three: “Church and State� on the front of its “The Arts� section on Monday.

“Houses of Worship Choosing to Avoid Landmark Status� by Robin Pogrebin featured two front-page photos of the former 109-year-old church. A dramatic huge color photo shows the church building under demolition at dawn in October, and a small black-and-white photo from the Brooklyn Eagle shows the church in excellent shape some two or three decades ago.

The article’s first five paragraphs summarized the controversy over the structure, on the National and State Registry of Historic Places, with a quote from Councilman Vincent Gentile that the church’s demolition could have been avoided.

The article leads to a full page inside the Arts section, looking at how the Landmarks Preservation Commission and Commissioner John Tierney work in connection with the delicate issue of church and state separation and preservation issues. It reports on what has been preserved and what has not, with the roles of congregation leaders involved.

They are two more paragraphs on the “green church,� one quoting a Landmarks spokesperson on the “advanced deterioration� of the structure as a reason why the agency did not hold hearings. The other paragraph quoted Pastor Robert Emerick as saying that the prohibitive cost of church maintenance hindered his congregation from fulfilling its Christian work mission.

The article mentions the new, smaller church planned for the site for the church’s diminished membership, as well as the planned 70-unit apartment building. The new church, planned for completion in early 2010, would rely partly on “green technology� from solar power, making it once again a “green church.� Some of its saved green serpentine stones would be placed in the church garden, according to Pastor Emerick.

The article appeared on the day the Times featured a story about the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, the world’s largest Gothic cathedral, celebrating its renovation after a fire destroyed parts of the huge structure seven years ago.

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