Examples of Church Conversions Abound

Part of the debate regarding saving the structures at the former St. Aloysius is what to do with them. As a residential designer and real estate agent I can envision what the end result might look like but for many this is difficult. First, keeping the church, rectory and convent along with some land for garages will require half the site. The remaining half can and should be new construction. This new construction might be all single family homes but it might be some attached townhouses mixed with single family homes.

By my estimation 12 new residences can be built on the western half of the site while 8-12 units can be fitted into the three existing structures on the eastern half of the site. This gives us about the same number of total units as planned with all new residences but with far more character.

I’ve done some internet research and found a number of articles on churches in other cities that have been converted to condos. Below is a sampling of what I found:

NW Arkansas

In 2003, it hosted church services, and a year ago it sat vacant, but now the former St. Joseph’s Catholic Church complex is showing signs of life after its transformation into condominiums.

Denver, CO

The imposing stone church on East 22nd Avenue, made of rhyolite stone from Castlewood Canyon and Colorado red sandstone trim, originally housed a Methodist Episcopal congregation in 1871. Once the tallest building in Denver, a wood spire signaled a holy site, but by the 1990s the church fell on hard times.

Pittsburgh, PA

Architecturally significant, built-to-suit, condos within a historically dedicated former church and rectory. Floor sizes vary from, 1,400 sq ft to 2,600 sq ft. Unfinished prices start at $190,000.

Virginia

The pretty white building certainly looks like a church – it has a traditional steeple, several stained-glass windows, and soaring ceilings. But no longer does it echo with the sounds of worship. Instead, this church has taken on a new life – as a family home.

Baltimore, MD

A Baltimore developer is planning to bring a trend that has been popularized in other cities and other parts of Baltimore to Mt. Vernon, with the redevelopment of the Sharon 7th Day Adventist church at the corner of Calvert and Chase Streets. Baltimore’s Commission on Historical and Architectural Preservation gave final approval to developer Peter Sullivan last week to transform the vacant church, built in 1874, into four luxury condos. Each 1,500-square-foot unit will have two bedrooms, and Sullivan said he expects them to sell for more than $500,000 each.

Boston, MA

Developers left the red brick in the rectory and the church’s granite exterior virtually intact, but split the church’s vast interior into five floors, retaining the wooden arches and stained-glass windows while installing stainless steel appliances, Jacuzzi tubs, skylights and granite countertops.

The development team, James and Bernard McFarland, both Catholics, converted the rectory and the church into condos to provide housing in an area of South Boston which has little housing. All eight units in the rectory sold last year, while 28 of the 36 units in the church sold since February this year when a real estate company began actively marketing them.

National

Now, these houses of worship are catching the eye of developers and preservationists.

In urban areas where land is scarce, developers are eager to convert them into condominiums, art galleries, discothèques, restaurants, nursing homes, schools and even single-family homes.

“There is a prestige factor,” says Michael Berkowicz, chairman of the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture at the American Institute of Architects. “Sacredness becomes part of the promotion.”

East Milton, MA

It was built in 1846 at 577 Adams Street in the Railway Village (now East Milton) to serve the religious needs of those moving to the area to work in the granite industry. A large Italianate church with a simple belfry, it was built amidst residential housing of Greek Revival through Italianate styles. Today, the former church has been converted to condominiums.

Toronto

The attraction of a conversion is the location, the space and the uniqueness.

Most loft developments occur in industrial buildings located on the city’s fringes. But churches sit in the heart of communities, on leafy lanes and residential streets.

Their size and open design allow developers to carve out multiple level units with towering ceilings and arched windows running the height of the condominium.

Working together we can create both new homes and condos within the existing structures. Such a creative compromise is what the St. Aloysius site is calling out for.

– Steve

St. Louis Centre Was A Design Failure From Day One

At dinner tonight I was reading the latest issue of the Arch City Chronicle and their cover story on St. Louis Centre. Like every other publication I’ve read on this subject the ACC is making the latest owner, Barry Cohen, out to be dragging his feet on plans to redevelop the dying mall:

“Neither Downtown Now nor Downtown St. Louis Partnership have been informed of any plans for the Centre. Tom Reeves, Executive Director of Downtown Now, seems to have lost confidence in Cohen.”

The last two groups that should be talking about someone else’s lack of action is Downtown Now and the Downtown St. Louis Partnership. They are both more heavy on salaries than accomplishments. That is, unless you could giving each other and their members awards…

Back to St. Louis Centre.

Cohen bought the once thriving mall at a foreclosure sale in August 2004 for $5.4 million. It was built in 1985 for $95 million. Of all the articles I’ve read in the last year I don’t think I’ve seen anyone stop and look at those numbers. I haven’t taken the time to go to the library and look through the micro-fiche to find articles on the financing and opening of the mall but no doubt a fair amount of that original number came in the form of some sort of public subsidy.

This alone is reason enough to be suspect about justifying a single massive project. The experts give glowing reports to get the public support behind the developer welfare program. Our convention hotel was supposed to save downtown is nearing bankruptcy after only a few years in operation and the Old Post Office project is claiming to provide something like 2,500 new jobs yet most of the tenants are simply relocating from other downtown spaces (Webster University, District Courts, St. Louis Business Journal, etc…). At what point do we stop believing the BS we are being fed?

Back to St. Louis Centre, again.

… Continue Reading

St. Louis Has Our Own Local Jack Abramoff

Wining & Dining of elected officials is not reserved for the big guys in Washington D.C. Local elected officials, such as members of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, are offered dinners and trips by lobbyists for big business. Like Washington, some take and others do not.

The old cliche, ‘money is the root of all evil’, has never been more true. From what I hear some officials have come to expect these extra perks to give them the lifestyle their public salary would not otherwise permit. Sound familiar? We’re not talking about the kind of cash flowing to Congress but enough to raise questions of ethics.

I want to stress a couple of points. This is not only in the City of St. Louis —- this exists throughout the region. The other point is not everyone is on the take, but some are.

No names are mentioned here as I don’t have the documentation to prove anything — yet. But in time it will come out just as it has with Jack Abramoff in Washington. Eventually we are going to have a nice little local scandal of money and favoritism.

– Steve

New Urbanism and the Christian Faith

The other day I was having lunch at the new Prancing Pony Cafe & Bookstore in New Town at St. Charles and one book caught my eye, Sidewalks in the New Kingdom: New Urbanism and the Christian Faith. I thumbed through a bit of it while waiting for my lunch companions to arrive but what I read was intriguing. I am personally not the religious type but many of my friends and family are. I think I’ll be ordering this book in bulk for birthday and Christmas gifts.

Here is what one person wrote in a review on Amazon.com:

People of all religious persuasions can find wisdom in this plain-spoken portrait of how humanity and culture are enriched by the informal social contacts of city life. Jacobsen, a pastor at the First Presbyterian Church in Missoula, Montana, builds a case for why Christians should have special concern for traditionally designed urban areas. At the same time, the book explores themes of community and identity that are relevant to people of all spiritual traditions.
He argues that we have been lulled into “worshipping false gods in the name of American values.” The concepts of individualism, independence and freedom are wrongly associated with life in the suburbs, Jacobsen tells us. Pointing out that identical tract homes and big box retailers are not expressions of individual choice, he says we have allowed corporations to bend our communities to their bottom-lines instead of our communal needs.

The car, so often equated with freedom, does not, in Jacobsen’s view, equal the Biblical sense of liberation, instead it represents a form of escapism. He writes that we have allowed ourselves to be isolated from one another by our cars and our low-density developments. The result is a loss of civility and a dismissal of God’s command to “love the stranger.”

He notes that cities give rise to critical mass, a condition that stimulates and incubates new ideas, significant events and formal art. Sidewalks in the Kingdom is a powerful call for Christians to endorse our cities in the same way they have embraced our natural environment. Should the concept catch hold, Christians everywhere may soon be fleeing the suburbs for a city near you.

If you are a person of faith but are unsure about New Urbanism give this book a read and let me know what you think. I’ve provided a link above to Amazon.com but you can also order the book online through local independent retailer Left Bank Books. Also, the author’s website offers a sample chapter.


I started reading the sample chapter and I wanted to quote one small bit:

It is important to note that we have not been backed into sprawl and standardization as the dominant mode of development because of poverty, national crisis, or other limiting factors. Instead, we have boldly and confidently marched toward these unsatisfying arrangements with no one to blame but ourselves. We have done so, I believe, because we have been worshiping false gods in the name of American values.

I am so ordering a copy for myself!

– Steve

Remembering Moscone & Milk; And a Call To Action

As an Apple Computer fan I’m looking forward to news from next weeks MacWorld Expo at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. But each time I hear “Moscone Center” I think of Harvey Milk.

Twenty seven years ago on November 27, 1978 San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor (like our aldermen) Harvey Milk were assassinated in SF City Hall by former Supervisor Dan White.

Milk had a couple of unsuccessful bids for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors but in 1977 he was finally elected. He became the first openly gay person elected to any such office — ever. At the time it was thought it was better to work within the system by electing a straight but friendly candidate to bring about change. Milk was determined to win and break down doors.

Supervisor Dan White was upset over the anti-discrimination legislation enacted in SF so he resigned his seat. A week later he returned to seek revenge. If you’ve heard of the phrase “twinkie defense” this is where it came from. White was sentenced to less than eight years in prison which sparked the White Night Riot. After serving only a portion of his sentence White committed suicide.

For more information see:
• Time Magazine 100 Heros & Icons
• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What is the point you ask? Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the day I filed to run for the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. I didn’t win on my first try (story). As I fight to make St. Louis a more urban place to live and to break down decades of self-serving ward politics I draw strength from men like Harvey Milk. I’m constantly told things won’t change here — we’re too conservative, we’re too this and too that.

BS!

We can change if we want to.

We can have a legislative body that actually governs the entire city and not just their selective 1/28th of the city while ignoring the remaining 27/28th. If they only want to take responsibility for their 1/28th then pay them 1/28 the salary.

Life is too short. We must make the best of the time we’ve got.

If you live in an even number ward — 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, or 28 — now is the time to get involved for the Spring 2007 election. Bookmark your alderman’s page and check each week to see what new legislation they are sponsoring or co-sponsoring. Ask them how they voted on controversial issues in other wards. Review their campaign finance reports to see who is giving them money and how often. Join your local ward committee (Democrat, Republican, or Green) and challenge any assumptions of propping up the status quo simply for the sake of business as usual or that is the way it is supposed to be. For those of you in odd numbered wards you should get involved as well in pretty much the same fashion. Not sure of your ward? Click here to find out.

Those already elected and those running the Democratic machine have no interest in real change or if they do they’ve been unwilling to prove it by there actions. We will have to take it by force at the grass roots level. If Harvey Milk can get elected in 1977 we can certainly change our board of aldermen thirty years later.

– Steve