Trinity Church, which describes itself as one of the largest landowners in Manhattan, revealed last month that it has some $2 billion worth of real estate holdings kicking around, thanks to a 215-acre gift from Queen Anne. Now that some of its remaining 14 acres has been re-zoned, the New York Times reports, it’s about to add a mixed-use residential development at Duarte Square on Canal Street. The Times reports an internal struggle over what to do with all that wealth has roiled the church’s leadership in recent years, splitting the vestry as an attempt to oust Rev. James Cooper as rector. One thing the church knows for sure: How to get a return on its buck. As NYU urban policy professor Mitchell L. Moss quipped to the Times, “Who says that the empire doesn’t live on?”
