By the end of 2012 at least a million dollars in grants for repairs to the building had gone unused and were rescinded. In December 2012 the leadership of the synagogue under Greenbaum filed a “hardship application” with the Landmarks Preservation Commission seeking permission to demolish the building to make way for a new residential development. In place of the synagogue, Greenbaum envisioned a 45,000 square foot condo building with room for a small synagogue on the ground floor, and possibly a "kollel". This application was withdrawn—at least temporarily—in March 2013, but the group "Friends of the Lower East Side" described Beth Hamedrash Hagodol's status as "demolition by neglect".