TORONTO – Church leaders struggling to provide for their congregation members are on the verge of turning some of Toronto’s houses of worship into permanent homes.
Staggering maintenance costs, demographic shifts and dwindling attendance have forced some church officials to explore real estate development as a way to stay afloat.
Parishes who take the residential route are in the midst of converting their aging church buildings into homes that can serve their aging congregations.
One such project is under way at Wesley Mimico United Church, which is being converted into a non-subsidized yet affordable apartment unit for local seniors downsizing out of their single-family homes.
“There are always people who want to turn churches into chic, very high-priced condos, but our goal is to be a congregation, to serve the community and to provide housing,” said retired minister Harry Oussoren.
Oussoren is the chair of the church’s Faith and Hope Team, who spearheaded the project. He cited the prohibitive cost of maintaining the more than century-old building as one of the main reasons for the redevelopment, adding the $40,000 maintenance price tag consumes nearly a third of the church’s total budget. Changing community demographics and an 80 per cent drop in the size of the congregation were also factors in the decision, he said.
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The entire building will undergo renovations, creating a multi-purpose site that will contain a church, a community space and a housing unit. The new units are expected to be built by 2015.
Oussoren estimates the project will cost between $10 million and $12 million.
Asbury and West United Church, located on Bathurst Street just north of Lawrence, is also undergoing renovations to allow for a new 300-unit affordable housing building.
Rev. Darren Liepold said the original building “needed some serious TLC,” adding many areas were inaccessible for the older members of the church.
Like Mimico United, only a portion of the church will be demolished to make room for the new building. The congregation will continue to meet in the main sanctuary, a designated heritage site.
“We needed to do something for our community, and this option will give people a chance to get into the housing market,” Liepold said.
The basement space will also be converted into a daycare available to renters. New residents will move in the fall of 2013.
Many Toronto churches have already been converted into high-end condominium units made distinctive by their traces of traditional architecture.
Kari Emond was part of the team that converted the former Victoria Presbyterian Church into the stunning “Victoria Lofts” in the Junction. The new development still features much of the building’s original design highlights, including sharp angles and exposed beams.
Church sites are enticing prospects for developers, Emond said, since they’re typically located in the middle of vibrant, established neighbourhoods that are well connected to transit and retail.
The most common and profitable approach is to tear down the original site completely and rebuild, but more designers and clients want to keep as much of the church’s structural history as possible, she said.
“People either really love it and fall in love with it immediately, or then there are the people that just don’t get it,” Emond said. “It’s sort of one or the other, there’s no in-between.”
Other churches in the city that are currently being transformed into residential buildings include the former Bellefair United in the Beaches and St. Mary the Virgin and St. Cyprian near Bloor Street West.
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