Community members in Mount Hope have started a petition to keep a former church from being demolished.

The crumbling building is located at 1800-1808 Grand Concourse Avenue. Anthony Nacerino, who serves on Bronx District 5's community board, started a petition on the website Change.org to turn the building into the Mount Hope Center for the Arts.

Nacerino, who chairs the board's Cultural Affairs Committee, says the community needs a place to serve as a center of artistic expression instead of another shopping center or residential building. Developers want to turn the building into condos or a homeless shelter.

Nacerino says he has more than 700 signatures on his petition and need 1,000 for it to be submitted to elected officials.