Investment sales in 2005 will be the highest in history. Many nonprofit organizations, which as a group are one of the largest owners of property in New York City, and religious organizations reaped the rewards of longtime ownership this year when they sold real estate.

One of these, the Church of the Epiphany, is at 1393 York Ave. and East 74th Street. It is one of more than 200 congregations of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Last week, the Sheldrake Organization bought the church site and will build a luxury 25-story residential condominium, designed by Polshek Partnership, and a new church. The entrance for the condo tower will be on East 74th Street, and the church’s entrance will be on York Avenue. Later this month, Sheldrake will be breaking ground on its 263-unit residential condominium building on the last waterfront site in Battery Park City, less than one block from the Goldman Sachs office site.

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Christ Church is at 520 Park Ave. and East 60th Street. It was designed by Ralph Adams Cram and finished in 1933. Last week, the church and the nearby Grolier Club agreed to sell air rights to a consortium,including William L. and Arthur W. Zeckendorf, that is developing a luxury condominium tower on the adjacent site.The consortium will pay the church $30 million,or about $432 a square foot, for the air rights.

Construction is underway by devel opment partners Sidney Fetner & Associates and the Durst Organization on a mixed-use development on the block between West 31st and West 32st streets and located midblock between Sixth and Seventh avenues. In this complex transacation, the developers will build five condominium units, which include a new facility for the Franciscan Friars of St. Francis of Assisi, the new corporate facilities for the New York region office of the American Cancer Society, a Hope Lodge for adult cancer patients and their caregivers, and a residential rental building of 47 stories beginning on the 13th floor. Of the 480 units, 20% will be reserved for affordable housing.

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Last month, the development company Uptown Partners hosted the topping-off ceremony for the 77-unit market-rate residential condominium, the Lenox, at West 129th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem.The tower is on the former site of the Mount Calvary Pentecostal Church. A few years ago, the church sold about two-thirds of the site to the developer. The church is now building a new sanctuary on a portion of the site. Under the terms of the sale, the church will also own retail space in the new residential tower.

Excavation is underway for another project by Uptown Partners on the site of the Bethel Gospel Assembly Church and school. The site is an entire block running from East 119th to East 120th streets and between Madison and Fifth avenues. In this transaction, the developer bought the land and air rights from the church.The final development will include a mixed-use building with a residential condominium component, a market-rate residential rental component, and a new sanctuary for the church.

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Massey Knakal Realty Services represented the Morian Baptist Church in the sale of its church at 2056 Fifth Ave. and 127th Street in Central Harlem. An investor group paid $4.5 million, or $231 a square foot, for the site and plans to develop residential condominiums.

Earlier this year Massey Knakal, representing the Jewish Theological Seminary, sold two residential buildings at 515 and 521 W. 122nd St., for $9.2 million.The buyer, Marcus Retter, plans to maintain the properties as residential rentals.

The General Theological Seminary, the oldest seminary of the Episcopal Church, was founded in 1817 and has been a New York City landmark since 1826. The seminary is at 175 Ninth Ave. and occupies a full block between Ninth and Tenth avenues and West 20th and West 21st streets. Last month, the seminary made a presentation at Community Board 4 to review its plans for a 17-story mixed-use tower to replace Sherrill Hall, a building on Ninth Avenue between 20th and 21st streets. On the site, the Brodsky Organization plans to construct a mixed-use building. The 185,000-square-foot tower would house a new library and office for the seminary and a residential tower of about 135,000 square feet, containing 80 apartments and a 130-unit garage. Since the seminar is in the Chelsea Historic District, approval of the plans is needed from the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. The Brodsky Organization is developing an 18-story, 56-unit residential condominium tower with a garage for 100 cars at 4 W. 21st St., north of Fifth Avenue.

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Construction has started on the Clarett Group’s Sky House, a 55-story, 139-unit luxury condominium tower at 11 E. 29th St. in the Madison Square Park North neighborhood. Earlier this year, the group bought the air rights from the adjacent Church of the Transfiguration, known familiarly as the Little Church Around the Corner, at 1 E. 29th St.

Massey Knakal represented the Washington Square United Methodist Church for the sale of its church at 133-139 W. 34th St. to the developers Jon Kully and Mick Walsdorf, partners in FLAnk. They paid $9.75 million, or $585 a square foot, and plan to retain the landmark exterior of the church and renovate the property into eight luxury condominium apartments.

Next year, the Property Markets Group will be closing on an acquisition of Church of Christ, Scientist, at 173 MacDougal St. It plans to redevelop the site,building a new church and residential condominiums.

In November,the Hudson Companies entered an agreement with New York University to erect a 26-story dormitory on its site at 124 E. 12th St., near Union Square. Hudson originally planned to build a 23-story residential tower on the site of St. Ann’s Church. The site once served as the home of Temple Emanuel-El and later was acquired by St. Ann’s, a Roman Catholic parish. In 1983 the site became home of the Armenian Catholic Church in North America. Last February, the site was sold to Hudson Companies for $15 million.

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Last month the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved an application by RFR Realty to the City Planning Commission for a special permit waiving setback and height regulations for the transfer of air rights from the Seagram Building at 375 Park Ave. to the former home of the YWCA at 610 Lexington Ave. and East 53rd Street. Earlier this year, RFR bought the 10,000-square-foot site of the Y for $31.5 million. Later this year, RFR Realty, in partnership with Hines, plans to erect a mixed-use tower that will contain 80 to 90 residential condominium apartments and 45 to 50 hotel rooms.

An investment company has been retained by the nonprofit Covenant House to market the 185,000-squarefoot building at 346 W. 17th St. off Ninth Avenue in Chelsea, Real Estate Alert reported. The 11-story building, which previously served as a shelter, was one part of the National Maritime Union Building. It will be delivered vacant and may fetch close to $120 million. Many investors would likely convert the property into a residential condominium.

Touro College is a Jewish-sponsored independent institution of higher and professional education founded in 1970 by Bernard Lander. Two years ago, it sold a site at 225 W. 60th St., between West End and Amsterdam avenues, to a development team that includes Joel and Margaret Kestenbaum and Stanley Listokin. Next year the developers are scheduled to finish construction on the Hudson Condominiums, an 18-story, mixed-use building. It will contain a 40,000-square-foot, five-level facility for the Lander College for Women of Touro College and about 100 condominium apartments on upper floors.

This year in particular, religious organizations have seized the opportunity to sell off real estate. Cashing in has provided these nonprofits much needed liquidity for their future success as well as many new sanctuaries and houses of worship.

Mr.Stoler is a television broadcaster and senior vice president at First American Title Insurance Company of New York. He can be reached at mstoler@firstam.com.