It’s a resurrection almost 20 years within the making.
Construction will resume Monday on the brand new St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Lower Manhattan, filling a gaping gap left when the unique home of worship was destroyed within the 9/11 terror assaults.
These mock-ups, completely obtained by The Post, exhibit the majesty of a website that can stand as tribute to the resolve of not simply the church’s flock, however all New Yorkers.
“Monday’s going to be a really emotional day. A strong day,” stated Michael Psaros, vice chairman of The Friends of St. Nicholas, which shaped in January to get the mission again on the precise monitor after years of scandal and mismanagement.
“Another highly effective image to the world of the resurrection of all of Ground Zero and New York City.”
Named for the patron saint of sailors, the unique St. Nicholas opened its doorways on Cedar Street in 1916, rapidly changing into the primary stopping level for Greek immigrants after they left Ellis Island.
It served the group for 85 years, retaining a quaint, old-world attraction as skyscrapers rose round it.
When the South Tower of the World Trade Center got here 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 virtually instantly to start rebuilding St. Nicholas, however the effort unfolded in suits and begins, hamstrung by a litany of points worthy of Homer’s Odyssey.
The saga included: Rampant price overruns amounting to tens of millions of {dollars}; authorized squabbles between the church and the Port Authority, which owns the Liberty Street website of the brand new St. Nicholas; and high church executives being convicted or accused of pilfering funds meant for the mission.
By January 2020, the church sat half-finished, however untouched for 2 years with the coffers naked.
Then, Gov. Andrew 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 mission accomplished.
“We misplaced an amazing, nice non secular establishment [in] what occurred on 9/11,” stated Catsimatidis, a billionaire grocery-store mogul and former New York mayoral candidate eyeing one other run in 2021. “[Reopening will be] A victory for all New Yorkers.”
To lastly obtain that purpose, the group undertook an enormous fundraising drive that, in simply 90 days, amassed the $45 million vital to full the mission, together with a $10 million donation from the household of late real-estate mogul and Los Angeles Chargers proprietor Alex Spanos.
Construction was set to resume within the spring — “then COVID hit,” stated Psaros, grounding all non-essential tasks statewide to a halt for months.
It will start as soon as once more on Monday when a crane lowers the primary skylight into the church’s dome, in a ceremony presided over by Cuomo and Archbishop Elpidophoros, the chief of the Greek Orthodox Church in America.
“St. Nicholas … can be, for the Greek-American group, our Parthenon and our St. Sophia in America,” stated Psaros. “It can be a strong image of the triumph of the principals of the American splendid, with respect to particular person and spiritual freedom.”
The purpose is to have the brand new St. Nicholas open on September 11, 2021 — the 20th anniversary of the assaults — to provide consolation to New Yorkers of all faiths.
The church will embrace a non-denominational bereavement middle during which any so moved can bear in mind these misplaced.
“I feel it would deliver some solace to of us who want it,” stated Mike Ortiz, a 49-year-old finance employee doing enterprise in Lower Manhattan since earlier than 9/11. “Rebuilding brings some type of calm. … If there’s one thing dangerous, one thing good wants to come out of it.”
The effort of finishing the mission will make the reward all of the sweeter, Psaros stated.
“It is the battle and the unlucky occasions during the last 20 years that precisely make Monday so particular,” he stated, noting that the phrase “agony” is rooted within the Greek agōnía, connoting “what you undergo to accomplish a purpose.”
Additional reporting by Steven Vago
