New life hard for old churches

Doug Moore

Aug. 5, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- ST. LOUIS -- The building is a beauty. And its pedigree is impressive.

Designed by the architect of St. Louis Union Station. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in the Italian Renaissance style. Site of a vice president's wedding.

Sitting at the corner of Kingshighway and Washington Place in the Central West End, St. John's United Methodist Church would appear a bargain at $1.3 million.

Zoned residential, the sale price would yield just under $50 per square feet. By comparison, a house for sale on the adjacent Westminster Place can command at least three times that amount per square foot.

But, as real estate agents will tell you, there isn't much demand to live in a church of this size. At 26,400 square feet, it is certainly more than a starter home.

So, a conundrum has emerged that has become more commonplace in the metro area: What is an appropriate second life for a historic church? One that will not run afoul of preservationists. One that will satisfy neighbors expecting the relative tranquility of a church. And one that will make money for the new owner.

"It's not just some empty warehouse you can split up and sell off," said real estate agent Peter Newton.

Newton works for Hilliker Corp., a firm specializing in commercial and industrial real estate. Selling a historic church provides a unique set of challenges, he said.

Newton had a buyer for St. John's until last week, when a woman who wanted to turn the church into a concert hall for up to 1,000 people withdrew her option to buy the church.

Overwhelming opposition from residents on nearby Westminster and Washington places led the prospective buyer to back out. The residents said an entertainment venue would bring noise, traffic and crime to their upscale neighborhood.

Newton said Monday that a church organization considered moving its world headquarters to St. John's but decided on another location. A developer who would try to attract a charter school to the church is in negotiations with Newton, he said. Others continue to express interest.

"It's not a question of whether it's an awesome building," Newton said. "It's: Can we make it work?"

St. John's does not suffer alone. The city has a glut of empty churches, including the Second Baptist Church, which sits across Kingshighway from St. John's. It's similar in size and historic value, but also has proven a challenge in coming to life as something else.

Developer Pete Rothschild, who bought Second Baptist Church about six months ago for $1.3 million, considered adding St. John's to his well-stocked portfolio.

"But I was unable to make sense of it," he said. "I didn't want to be a double dumbbell and settled for just the one church."

Rothschild said he is planning 17 condos for the chapel building of Second Baptist, a church built with a mix of golden bricks, red granite, terra cotta and sandstone. As for the sanctuary, he hasn't decided what to do.

He offered the church to Maebelle Reed, who last week dropped her option to buy St. John's.

Reed said she is concerned the same neighborhood opposition would come with that location, and she plans to look elsewhere in the city. Rothschild said he is talking with a theater company about making the sanctuary its new home.

Rothschild is no stranger to finding new life for a former house of worship. He, along with another owner, turned what was once the St. Boniface Catholic Church in the Carondelet neighborhood into the Ivory Theater. It opened last year. The church was one of seven the St. Louis Archdiocese closed as part of a parish consolidation in 2005.

Other denominations have either consolidated or closed churches, too, unable to support grand structures in a city that has lost 500,000 people over 50 years.

Rothschild sold the Maplewood Baptist Church in 2005 to the Moosylvania ad agency for its business and thought he had a solid plan in 2006 to turn the stone Jubilee Church in Webster Groves into six condominiums. But Rothschild quickly backed away from the idea when he walked into a public meeting to discuss his plans and met 150 people opposed to the idea.

Other developers have had success in church conversions. Trace Shaughnessy and Chris Goodson of The Gilded Age turned the Lafayette Park Presbyterian Church into nine condominiums, called The Abbey on the Park.

St. John's, like Second Baptist, is in the Holy Corners District, also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The name comes from a cluster of churches that were built there in the early 20th century, including First Church of Christ Scientist and Temple Israel.

The congregation of St. John's moved out in July 2007, no longer able to support a church that at one time had 1,600 members. During their last years in the Central West End, the 140 or so members gathered in the chapel. The larger sanctuary was used by the 300-member Metropolitan Community Church, primarily a gay and lesbian congregation.

The cornerstone of the Italian Renaissance style church was laid in 1901. Construction was completed the next year from plans by architect Theodore C. Link, who also designed St. Louis Union Station.

The church made national news in 1949, when Alben Barkley, vice president to Harry S. Truman, married St. Louisan Jane Hadley. Much was made of the marriage for two reasons; it was the first by a vice president while in office; and the disparity in age between bride and groom. He was 71, she was 38.

One option to make St. John's more appealing to developers would be to apply for historic tax credits to fund renovation. But doing so requires "minimal changes to the defining characteristics," according to the National Park Service, the agency that oversees the historic tax credit program.

"I've had a lot of really creative people tour it -- multimillionaires," Newton said. "It's just a bear to find people for these properties."

dmoore@post-dispatch.com -- 314-340-8125

Newstex ID: KRTB-0187-27167358