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An unused synagogue building in Connecticut could soon become affordable housing
(JTA) — A vacant West Hartford, Connecticut, synagogue building, shuttered in 2018, could soon turn into 49 apartments — including affordable housing, a local newspaper has reported.
Agudas Achim, an Orthodox congregation established in 1887 that primarily served Romanian immigrants, moved to its third permanent location in the building in 1969. Five years ago, it merged with another congregation, United Synagogues, and the building went up for sale the following year. Now the property, which the city appraised at about $2.5 million, is under contract.
Trout Brook Realty Advisors, the nonprofit development arm of the West Hartford Connecticut Housing Authority, is developing the new housing complex. Both of the possible redevelopment plans would incorporate the synagogue building’s facade — which includes a distinctive ground-to-roof pattern of brightly colored windows — and not require the building’s demolition.
“We are really excited about it,” Jill Corrado, CEO of Trout Brook and executive director of the West Hartford Housing Authority told the Hartford Business Journal. “It’s a cool adaptive reuse of an existing structure. We wanted to pay tribute to it by not demolishing the entire structure. It has some cool features we want to preserve.”
The West Hartford project is a solution to two problems that have vexed many: what to do with synagogue buildings when their congregations shrink, relocate or otherwise shift, and a crisis in housing affordability across the United States.
A handful of efforts are underway to tackle both challenges at once. In California, a legislator who says he is driven by his Jewish identity proposed a law that would allow colleges and religious institutions to build affordable housing on their properties — even if they aren’t zoned for residential use. The legislation still needs approval from the California’s Assembly and governor, who has made the state’s housing crisis a top priority.
Corrado told the Hartford Business Journal it was too early to know how many of the units in the new development would be set aside as affordable housing.
West Hartford’s town planner Todd Dumais commended the developer’s decision to maintain some of the exterior of the building.
“What’s exciting,” he told Connecticut Insider, “is looking at an adaptive reuse component and keeping the architectural integrity and integrating that into the plans,” Dumais said. “It’s got some very unique and interesting architectural heritage that’s integral to the former synagogue there. I commend them to [sic] making that attempt in this first pass. There’s a lot of merit to that.”
It’s not the first time that a previous home of the congregation has been converted to alternate use. While the original Agudas Achim in Hartford met in private homes, by 1928 the congregation had established a permanent Romanesque Revival and Colonial Revival style synagogue. After outgrowing the building and moving to the suburbs of West Hartford, the building was sold and later became a Baptist church. Today it is the Glory Chapel International Cathedral.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
The post Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.