A woman with a soft spot for 'old tatty buildings' turned an abandoned 1930s abbey into a multimillion-dollar property check it out

Originally from the Midwest, Oztemel, 62, told Insider she'd moved to the East Coast after university. By 2014, she was living in Connecticut, raising two sons on the verge of graduating high school.

At that point in her life, Oztemel said she felt a growing sense that she needed to "get out" and "do something new." Then, later that year, friends who had been living in Hudson invited her to spend the day at their place for the first time.

It turned out Hudson, which is approximately 120 miles of New York City and often referred to as the "Brooklyn of the Hudson Valley," according to Vogue, was the exact change of scene Oztemel was longing for.

"Maybe it was the way I grew up when I was little," Oztemel said.

By chance, there was a parade in town that day, which she admired from afar from a stoop on the main street.

"I just thought, 'This is cool,'" she said, reflecting back. "It kind of felt like this perfect-fitting coat."

The city — which was chartered in 1785 and is one of America's first incorporated cities — is known for its unique architecture and antiquities, two things Oztemel has always had a soft spot for.

Before moving to Hudson, she said she already had a track record of falling in love with old buildings, such as an old pocketbook factory or townhouse, and giving them a new lease on life.

"I don't toss things out easily," Oztemel said.

Oztemel had already been living in Hudson in a townhouse on the main street before she came across The Abbey. But it was love at first sight: The eye-catching red-brick exterior and distinctive fixtures embodied the quirkiness she was searching for.

"I was looking for a project because I like renovating old tatty buildings," she said, adding that she was initially in the market for something like a firehouse.

"And then here comes this abbey," Oztemel added. "I don't even think it was on the market."

"The pipes burst and the ceiling caved in," she said.

Chris Getman, an agent with Houlihan Lawrence, which is now listing the property, seconded Oztemel's description, telling Insider that the old church had been left to rot by its previous owner, who abandoned it when they decided to leave the US.

Years of neglect had left it in "ruins," Getman said. "The church flooded, beams were falling."

But Oztemel — who had several renovations projects under her belt — wasn't phased.

Built in the 1930s, The Abbey was first used as a Catholic church, Getman said. After that, it was taken over by antique dealers who stored their finds there.

The second-floor was also briefly converted into a chocolate factory, "which is kind of neat," Getman said.

The Abbey has been on the market with Houlihan Lawrence for just over a month and Getman said he's seen a surprising level of interest.

"Selling a church, the prospect pool is much slimmer than it is to sell a $1 million house or a $2 million house," he said. "I've showed it about four times since she's listed it, which is pretty good for a multimillion dollar church in the middle of Hudson."

According to Getman, the interest in the property is a credit to Oztemel and her personal renovation style.

"Laurel's passion, her energy, and her creating this vision. That's really what's going to sell the church," he said.

Thankfully, she had the expertise of a great crew, BKV Construction, she said.

"I've had an excellent crew that had my back all the time," she said. "They never said, 'This is a bad idea,' or 'They can't do this.'"

For the construction crew to figure out what they had to work with, it was necessary for them to strip back the church, she said.

The early phases of the process included taking up floors to expose the cement underneath and removing parts of the collapsing ceiling, which was "squatty and short" at first, Oztemel said. Today, the ceiling stretches a towering 30-feet high, according to the listing.

On the lower level, Oztemel said the most significant change was removing the walls to create a cavernous, open-plan room.

"I'd rather take out all the walls instead of put up walls," she said.

"It's a stunning, really sexy bathroom, which sits below the bell tower," Getman said. Back in the day, "it was probably where confessionals were," he added.

Currently, the wood-paneled room features a white bathtub, wooden floors, cathedral lights, and a black-and-white portrait of Kate Moss.

As much as she wanted to give The Abbey a face-lift, Oztemel said she was also determined to honor its past.

That meant maintaining and highlighting some of its most fascinating features, including the bell tower and the nondenominational stained-glass windows — Oztemel's construction team reinforced them with an extra layer of protective glass.

"I feel like I preserved it and I'm proud of that," Oztemel said. "It's an old thing that kinda got better. It's gonna be there a long time."

"As it changed, I thought, 'Oh, I want to do that in case there's 200 people in here,' or 'I want to do that in case it's a living situation,'" she said of her choices during the construction.

Since the project finished around 2020, she has hosted multiple different events there, including intimate weddings, christenings, cooking classes, and even music events.

It's the perfect place for a party because "you can't really hurt it," Oztemel said, with a laugh.

While she never called The Abbey home, Oztemel said she would've if circumstances were different. "If I didn't have another place to live near here, I would live there," she said.

And although the property doesn't technically have any bedrooms, Oztemel said she did contemplate adding a few.

"There were dreams of doing bedrooms in the bell-tower levels that overlook the river," she said — a potential addition a new owner could consider making.

One of Oztemel's friends did live in the church for a year, showing it has the potential to be a permanent residence.

Oztemel, who was a vocal-performance major at university, said that one of the first things she did when The Abbey was ready was plug in her synthesizers and whip out her Jennifer Lopez-style microphone.

"I basically walked around and I sang," she said. It was a "beautiful" moment and makes her think how well the space would suit a musician or a band.

"It's just so stunning," Getman added, calling the design "stylish," "elegant," and "quirky."

But Getman said Oztemel was also meticulous about details of the property you can't necessarily see. For example, the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system is top of the line, like what you'd get in a "major hotel," he said.

"Not one piece of that building was not touched and upgraded," Getman added.

Oztemel's sons don't live near Hudson but come up to visit from time to time.

"There were occasions where we would have our holidays there," she said of The Abbey, adding that her sons would often play music themselves in the space.

"That's why I say, it'd be such a great family gathering place too," Oztemel said. "It has a beautiful yard, which is unique for Hudson."

The church also has a little vegetable garden and a terrace that provides views of the river.

It took a while for Oztemel to put The Abbey up for sale.

"I'm so sentimental about deciding what to do with it and it's taken me a while to commit to marketing it," she said.

But she has bought another property in Hudson that requires her time and financial resources, so she said she doesn't "have the hours in the day that it needs to really value" The Abbey.

It's a tough goodbye, she said. But still, she hopes she's laid the foundation for a new owner to turn The Abbey into whatever they'd like: a wedding venue, a music studio for bands to record albums, an antiques museum, a workspace for a company, or simply a family home.

"I think it'll take a creative person to appreciate the non-conventional aspects of hanging out in it," she said. "It's not for everybody. But it is for me."