Converting church into apartments on agenda for Monday in Suffield

Suffield — The Planning and Zoning Commission is holding a public hearing Monday on an application to turn the former St. Joseph Church on South Main Street into apartments.

A Guilford developer has proposed turning the church building at 140 South Main St., at the corner of Barry Place, into 16 one- and two-bedroom apartment units.

The PZC will have to decide if the proposed project meets the criteria of the town’s adaptive reuse regulations, which allows for the creation of multi-family housing in non-residential buildings without a change in zoning.

The hearing will be held at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall.

Developer James McMahon gave a preliminary presentation to the PZC in October, and received a warm response from commission members who said it was a great way to use a beautiful building.

According to McMahon and the architect he is working with, all three levels of the church would be used for apartments. Two of the units would meet the criteria for affordable housing.

The basement level, a parish hall, would be turned into four apartments. The chapel and sanctuary on the ground floor would be divided into six apartments that would be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Mezzanine balcony would be expanded to hold six more apartments, said John Cruet, an architect with LRC Group.

The apartments would range in size from 650 to 950 square feet.

The conversion would require many interior updates, but the exterior of the building and its footprint wouldn’t change, Cruet said.

McMahon told the PZC he hopes to use the existing church parking lot to avoid paving any more of the grounds.

He also proposed calling the apartments, Memorial Estates, and putting a memorial honoring two local men killed while serving in the armed forces in place of a current statue.