The Gift of Land

A historic property grant continues to support Trinity’s work in the city we call home. 

There was a time — for centuries, in fact — when Trinity Church was the largest landholder on the island of Manhattan. A 1705 grant of 215 acres from Queen Anne stretched from today’s Financial District up to the West Village. The gift was meant to provide support for the church that would sustain its work for the people of New York in perpetuity.   

Over the centuries, Trinity used its land to help build institutions indelibly linked to New York. In 1760, King’s College, now Columbia University, opened on five acres provided by Trinity near what is now City Hall Park. The church also provided property for Trinity Hospital at 50 Varick Street, which existed for nearly a century; for Trinity Mission House; and for some of the city’s first daycares and kindergartens. Those schools provided a blueprint for the city at a time when quality early childhood education was virtually nonexistent. 

Today, Trinity’s commitment to leveraging our real estate to advance the imperatives of our faith remains as powerful a driver as it was nearly 400 years ago.  

Our property ownership now consists of 15 acres that provide an important new way for Trinity to fulfill our biblical call to be stewards of our community: Through the development of some of the city’s most ambitious new sustainable real estate projects, we are creating industry-leading examples of environmentally conscious engineering and a road map for the future of green real estate in our city.  

This work is part of Trinity’s majority stake in the Hudson Square Properties (HSP) joint venture, a real estate portfolio managed by Trinity, Norges Investment Management, and Hines, a global real estate investment manager.  

Sustainability experts are taking notice. This year, HSP rose from ninth to first in its peer group for sustainable development, according to Netherlands-based ESG firm GRESB’s annual Real Estate Assessment.  

The work also marks a commitment to the city’s commercial properties undertaken by Trinity when others were divesting. Since the outset of the COVID pandemic, the HSP joint venture has continued its investment in a 13-building, 6.3 million-square-foot commercial portfolio in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. That includes the ground-up development of 555 Greenwich Street, an all-electric building totaling 270,000 square feet and rising 16 stories.  

The project, the first speculative office development to be completed since the pandemic, is more than a new home for world-class commercial tenants. Our partnership with workforce development program Stacks & Joules also means 555 Greenwich serves as a hands-on learning laboratory for students interested in becoming architects and engineers. Each year, Trinity hosts student cohorts who learn about the science behind 555 Greenwich’s sustainable design choices from the architects, engineers, and building managers who brought those ideas to life. 

Because Trinity met the real estate industry’s pandemic-era pessimism with a recommitment to developing thoughtful new commercial spaces, we have been able to play a leading role in revitalizing Hudson Square. Our tenants include such local businesses as Pure Paws Veterinary Care and Chillhouse Spa, as well as global leaders Adidas, Google, and Squarespace. 

Investing directly in new commercial buildings is just one way our Hudson Square Partners joint venture gives back to the community we call home. Throughout the pandemic, our joint venture has supported small businesses and the local artist and creative communities, the lifeblood of Hudson Square and its surrounding districts. That support continues through our collaboration with NASA on a new mural at 350 Hudson Street, which debuted in September 2024.  

Assisting the artistic community also enhances the social value of our buildings. By turning the facade of 160 Varick into a dedicated canvas, local artists became an integral part of the tenant experience. Recently, visitors to 160 Varick were able to view an expansive tribute to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, with other immersive exhibits planned in the future. 

Trinity Church’s real estate portfolio continues to grow and evolve with our ever-changing city, but our mission of serving the community remains unchanged over the centuries — using the blessing of property to help us care for our neighbors in ways large and small.