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The city's Episcopal leaders claimed yesterday that the landmark St. Bartholomew's Church would be doomed if it could not demolish its adjacent community house to make way for an office tower.
Opponents claimed the cry of economic hardship was misleading.
The church has a plan before the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission to demolish the community house. The commission has rejected two earlier proposed designs for an office tower on the site that church leaders say will generate money for the poor and for badly needed repairs to the 67-year-old church on Park Avenue.
The church says it has had to cut back on its programs, staff and hours of worship, and has deferred $11 million in maintenance...