Archdiocese wants to mortgage prized Manhattan real estate to pay off sex abuse victims

By Julia Marsh And Bruce Golding
New York Post
February 28, 2017

http://nypost.com/2017/02/28/archdiocese-wants-to-mortgage-prized-manhattan-real-estate-to-pay-off-sex-abuse-victims/

The Archdiocese of New York plans to mortgage a prized piece of Madison Avenue property behind St. Patrick’s Cathedral for $100 million so it can pay off victims of priestly sex abuse and keep the sordid details out of open court.

The filing in Manhattan Supreme Court says JP Morgan Chase has agreed to loan the potential hush money against the archdiocese’s ownership of land beneath the landmark Villard Mansion and the luxury Lotte Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue between 50th and 51st streets.

An archdiocese spokesman confirmed Tuesday that it need’s the cash to carry out Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s plan to strike out-of-court settlements with victims of abuse at the hands of priests and deacons.

“Cardinal Dolan said in October, when he introduced the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, the archdiocese planned to take a loan to cover the cost of the compensation. This loan is to do that,” archdiocese spokesman Joe Zwilling said.

The state’s Religious Corporations Law requires that a judge sign off before the church can mortgage any of its property, according to the filing.

The cost of the loan isn’t specified, but court papers say the terms call for it to last for 364 days, with monthly interest payments and the principal to be paid in full at the end.

The church will obtain a long-term loan to pay off the mortgage after it determines how much will be needed to pay off victims later this year, Zwilling said.

The archdiocese bought the 19th-century brownstones that comprise the Villard Mansion over time, completing the purchase in 1971, when the late Henry Gaisman — inventor of the AutoStrop razor — donated $2.25 million to pay Random House for the northernmost townhouse.

The church already owned several adjacent buildings that were demolished so the late developer Harry Helmsley could build the 51-story hotel tower, which opened in 1980.

Under Dolan’s sex-abuse compensation plan, victims can get paid by the church in exchange for agreeing not to purse legal action.

Dolan has said that most of abuse took place “25, 30, 35, 40 years ago,” and that all of the evidence had been “thoroughly investigated” and “turned over to the police.”

The archdiocese set a Jan. 31 application deadline for people who had already made claims against the church, with others eligible to apply afterward.

The amount of individual payments is being decided by mediator Kenneth Feinberg, who oversaw the official Sept. 11th Victim Compensation Fund, and a colleague, Camille Biros.

The mediators received 144 claims during the first phase and have sent offers to 64 people, 44 of whom have accepted so far, Biros said. Neither she nor the archdiocese would detail any of the deals.

About 100 people signed up to seek settlements after the deadline, but only 26 of them are potentially eligible, Biros said.

The others alleged abuse that took place outside the confines of the archdiocese — which covers Manhattan, Staten Island, The Bronx and seven northern counties — and their claims were forwarded to relevant church officials, Biros said.