Syracuse, N.Y. -- Temple Concord, Central New York’s oldest Jewish congregation and the ninth oldest in the United States, has agreed to sell its historic, 108-year-old Syracuse synagogue to a developer of luxury student apartments.

Members of the temple voted “overwhelmingly” on Sunday to approve the sale of the synagogue for $9 million, said Rabbi Daniel Fellman.

The sale is contingent on the buyer getting city approvals of its plan to turn the site into student apartments. Fellman said the sale, if it goes through, is “months away.”

Temple officials said they could not identify the buyer because of a confidentiality agreement, but a source said it is Landmark Properties, an Athens, Georgia, company that describes itself as the nation’s top developer of student apartments.

Landmark officials did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. In 2016, the company proposed constructing a 17-story student apartment building on University Avenue, just a block and a half south of Temple Concord.

The company backed off its proposal after Syracuse University opposed it as being out of character with the neighborhood, but it has not lost interest in the thriving market for luxury student apartments on University Hill. Such apartments come with high rents, but also lots of amenities, and fill up fast.

Fellman said the congregation will move to temporary quarters -- a location has not been chosen yet -- while it makes plans for a new permanent home.

Approximately 350 families -- a total of about 1,000 people -- are members of the congregation, which was established as the Temple Society of Concord in Syracuse in 1839.

The congregation moved in 1911 from its first purpose-built synagogue at State and Harrison streets to its current home on the southeast corner of Madison Street and University Avenue. A religious education building was added in the late 1920s, and another building was constructed in the 1960s.

The synagogue’s original building, which contains its sanctuary, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. The granite building features a columned Doric portico reminiscent of many Greek Doric temples in Greece and Southern Italy.

Fellman said it is not known whether Landmark plans to re-purpose the temple’s existing buildings or will seek to demolish them and build new structures in their place.

Temple officials said the building had not been for sale but they were approached by the developer who offered to buy it.

Financial pressures were behind the decision to sell. In a letter to the congregation urging members to vote in favor of the sale, the temple’s board of trustees warned that the temple was in danger of running out of operating funds after tapping its reserves for 10 years to close deficits.

The temple’s membership has grown from 280 families to 350 over the last 10 years, but that’s still down from its peak of about 800 families 30 to 40 years ago, according to Fellman. Nationally, membership in synagogues, like that of churches, has been on the decline for decades.

Fellman said the biggest factor behind the vote to sell was a desire for the Temple Concord congregation to “survive for the next 180 years.”

“People feel a real attachment to that building and its history, and it’s never an easy decision,” he said. “I don’t think it’s an easy decision for anybody.”

The sale will allow the congregation to establish a $6 million endowment fund that would generate enough interest income to eliminate annual operating deficits, according to the board of trustees. The remaining $3 million will allow the congregation to establish a new “21st century synagogue,” it said.

Rick Moriarty covers business news and consumer issues. Contact him anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148