The Rader Memorial United Methodist Church in El Portal has sat at the corner of NE 87th street and 2nd Avenue for more than 70 years, but soon, it will no longer be here.
“We’re shocked,” said resident Greg Stier.
“For people who live here, it’s a nightmare,” said resident Pamela Mills.
Last year, WeWork founder and billionaire Adam Neumann’s real estate firm Flow, bought the land where the church sits.
Flow purchased 16 acres of land from an auction in El Portal for more than 70 million dollars. The group plans to build a private school called Student of Life, For Life, known as SOLFL.
“People are up in arms here. Traffic, everything is going to change, and it’s a horrible situation for us to be in as citizens,” said Mills.
El Portal is a small village where less than 2,000 people live.
More than 500 residents have signed a petition to stop the demolition of the Rader Church.
“We’ve always felt that it’s very imperative that we hold onto whatever historical heritage we have in our community — and this is the main one,” said resident Ashley Lucio.
Part of the redevelopment plans include demolishing several multi-family homes 600 feet north of the school to build a parking lot with 33 parking spaces for school staff.
“It’s not just the school, it’s [the] demolition of the property, it’s the increase of traffic,” said Mills.
During a January 22nd planning and zoning meeting – development partners discussed the need for zoning changes. They also discussed their traffic plan, and the zoning vote has been deferred twice.
Residents thought they would be talking to developers about preserving the church during a town hall Thursday, only to learn the demolition had begun.
“We feel like we’ve been betrayed. We were negotiating with them in good faith and now they’ve turned around and basically stabbed us in the back,” said Stier.
How the developers and the mayor are responding to residents’ concerns
We reached out to attorney Michael Kosnitzky, who represents the developer, who provided us with this statement— saying:
“This site has been vacant for 20 years and the goal of creating a school is far better than letting the structure continue to deteriorate and ultimately collapse. These plans have been public for months and the community has been informed every step of the way including multiple public hearings. We have also been continuously engaged with community offering to fund infrastructure upgrades and additional police.”
We reached out to El Portal Mayor Omarr Nickerson about the development and residents’ concerns, he provided us with a written statement, saying: “I am angry and sad. It was as if we were two countries that were trying to avoid war. The meetings, town halls, etc. were akin to us conducting Diplomatic Negotiations to try and find a peaceful outcome… a peaceful solution.”
“What they have done is fired the first shot of this war. A blind-sided, sneak attack! We have no choice, but to respond.”
The next town hall with developers and residents is scheduled for Thursday, February 12th, at 7pm.
