Demolition of the vacant St. Mark’s Church on Hamilton Street restarted recently, with much of the church building razed this week. The adjacent rectory building still remained as of Tuesday.

Demolition of the church initially began last August but then seemed to come to a stop until recently.

A demolition permit was submitted and then granted by the city in May 2018 to Control Services, LLC, for a total cost of $60,000, according to city permits. The permit remains open. The property was issued a “Notice of unsafe structure” violation on Sept. 19, which was closed by Oct. 12, according to city permits.

City Council in February authorized the Planning Board to study the St. Mark’s property and six adjacent lots on Gordon Place and Seminary Avenue to determine if they qualify for a condemnation redevelopment area under state law. During its monthly, public meeting on Wednesday, the Redevelopment Agency briefly went into executive session for about 10 minutes to discuss the Hamilton Street redevelopment study. Redevelopment Director Bob Landolfi said the study is expected to be completed this month.

The Hamilton Street redevelopment area would encompass the entire block around St. Mark’s except for one lot on the corner of Seminary Avenue and Irving Street that’s already part of the existing downtown redevelopment area.

Situated between Hamilton Street and Seminary Avenue, the 132-year-old church had been vacant since a merger in 2010 with nearby St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church on Central Avenue created the Divine Mercy Parish.

The nearly 1-acre property is owned by the Archdiocese of Newark, and thus exempt from property taxes. A spokesman for the Archdiocese said last summer that it was in negotiations to sell the property.

The site at 277 Hamilton St. (Block 162, Lot 9) is assessed for $666,700 overall ($146,600 for the land, $520,100 for the building). A similarly assessed property would normally generate about $43,522, based on an overall property tax rate of $6.528 per $100 of assessed value for 2017.