Bethlehem rejects plan for art gallery at 168-year-old church
A former Unitarian Universalist Church in Bethlehem has been sold for the second time in two years.
According to a news release from SVN/ Imperial Realty, the church at 424 Center St. was sold for $1.2 million to Christmas City LLC. The congregation sold the 168-yearold building to 424 Center LLC in 2020 for $640,000.
Christmas City LLC, which is a Delaware corporation, has obtained zoning approval to convert the church to a residence and business, according to the release.
A Morning Call story from September 2021 said 424 Center planned to make the church a private art gallery and offices. Cindy Miller, a Realtor with SVN/Imperial who represented 424 Center, said her client was selling because the city wouldn’t grant zoning relief for those projects.
The sale to Christmas City went through because its plan was granted zoning relief as part of the agreement of sale, Miller said.
The church is in the city’s historic district and is listed with the city as a historic structure. Built in 1854 by the congregants of the Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church, with additions made through the years, it remained a Methodist church until 1995.
The congregation, now known as Wesley United Methodist Church, moved to a building at 2540 Center St. that year.
The building was sold to the Unitarian Universalist Church, which remained there for 25 years, until the sale was approved by the congregation in fall 2020 after the COVID pandemic affected attendance and upkeep on the building was becoming too expensive.
The Unitarian Universalist Church of the Lehigh Valley now worships at 1633 Elm St., Allentown.