St. Paul’s church for sale, $900K
A city church facing high structural repair costs is now for sale.
St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, located at the corner of Water and Murray streets, is listed for sale for $900,000.
The realtor, Realty Executives, has created a website, 120murraystreet.com, to highlight the church building and offer more information on the 159-year-old church.
“This site has long been recognized as the home of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church. The property has two connected buildings and over 23,400 square feet of floor space, which provides enormous potential for your new vision and investment ideas,” states the introduction to the website.
The realtor has also taken out an advertisement in the New York Times.
Built in 1859 (at a cost of $20,000), the church added its rotunda in 1885 and has a hall that was added in 1959. That church hall is where the congregation now meets, as the original structure is suffering from damage that makes it unsafe to use. This includes loose plaster and rotting support beams.
The Examiner reported in 2014 that church officials believed it would cost $2 million to repair the church on top of the $100,000 in annual maintenance just to keep the doors open.
The church hired Toronto consultant LGA Architectural in 2015 to develop a feasibility study into the future of the structure. At the time, a company official told The Examiner churches are facing a crisis - aging buildings and dwindling congregations.
While the St. Paul’s building has a lot of history, it does not have a heritage designation, meaning new owners would be free to use the property as they wish, including demolition.
The lot is 32,300 square feet, the realtor states.
The main floor of the church is 10,718 square feet, and includes four offices, a large meeting room, the choir room, a kitchen and washrooms in addition to the sanctuary. The second floor is 4,112 square feet and includes the former Sunday school area, now being used as office space by tenants, which has its own kitchen and washrooms.
The 1959 hall addition includes offices, a boardroom, an auditorium with stage, recreation space, a commercial kitchen, washrooms and showers. It connects to the main building through a small covered walkway.
The church is currently the temporary home of the Brock Mission, which moved from its now-demolished former location further west on Murray St. and is awaiting construction of its new 18,000-squarefoot facility on the same site later this year.