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The Archdiocese of Chicago has faith in the city’s real estate market, it seems: A developer is hoping that a vacant Catholic Church in Ukrainian Village will have “mass appeal” when he converts the building into The Sanctuary, an 18-unit loft development, according to yet another interesting story in the Chicago Journal.
According to the story, the Archdiocese of Chicago generally markets vacant churches to other religious groups but decided that the size of the parcel and its lack of a parking lot made it a better fit for a residential developer (if not for home-buyers who want a place to park.) See previous Yo posts on church conversions elsewhere in Chicago.
Developer Romeo Kapudija (who appears to also be a racing car driver?) will retain features of the common areas of the building such as limestone crosses and communion cups. The most expensive unit, which has an asking price of $699,000, will have 18-foot ceiling heights, and a dining room on a raised level where the church choir used to sit.
This kind of a place would have been perfect for Yo’s truly growing up. We could’ve cut out the commute on Christmas Day. We kids had this habit of spending a little too long opening the Christmas presents and playing with our roller skates, and as a result we never quite made it to the church on time. We’d shuffle into the packed church and into the only available seats – the choir stalls – and sit shamefaced looking out at the congregation.
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This is a wonderful project plus the comment by Flores -”From a development standpoint, it keeps the character of a neighborhood intact,” its even better!
I stopped over on Saturday to have a look at the development (nothing yet appears to be happening) and the area.
It’s an easy walk to a number of used-car outlets and budget stores, and has the kind of bar across the street that Nelson Algren would love.
I’m at a loss to explain why anyone would buy there.
“The kind of bar that Nelson Algren would love?” What’s the name – the local neo-bohos should love it!
Oh my… I live around the corner from that church and never realized it was vacant. As for the neighborhood, I live a block West and it’s nice and quiet and neighborhoody. I can see how living right off of Western might not be all that nice. But Stellas (the bar Nelson Algren would love) is a pretty nice hole in the wall, if you ask me.
I believe it’s Stella’s across the street. Nice little Urkanian joint. Kind of place where white illegals (see: Eastern Europeans) go after a long day building your condos.
As for the neighborhood, it’s what realtors are now calling West East Village. Or, Humboldt Park/Ukranian Village. I think it’s a cool idea and a good area (save for Bickerdike housing in the area). My biggest concern would be about the devout Catholics, mostly immigrant types, who are so devout they show up at your door in the middle of the night looking for Pope John Paul II’s ashes. Other than that, I like it. But one more con is that it’s probably haunted!
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