Parish properties seen worth $400m
The dozens of parishes closing in the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston could sell for more than $400 million on the open market, developers said yesterday, an amount that could help bolster the archdiocese's strained finances.
The combined properties are assessed at a little more than $120 million, but the municipal assessments can run low, developers and local officials said, because churches are exempt from property taxes and assessors typically don't estimate the commercial sale potential of each building. Once the properties are fully appraised and placed in competitive bids, their values would grow greatly, developers and local officials agreed, to triple or quadruple their assessed value.
Within hours of Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley's closings announcement, his spokesman said, several developers and others contacted the archdiocese seeking details on the timing of the church sales. The Rev. Christopher J. Coyne said all were told that no properties would be sold until the archdiocese had each parcel appraised for its dollar value and potential uses.
The 65 parishes O'Malley plans to close are in 38 communities. State and local officials said they hoped the archdiocese would delay selling anything until officials from those communities offer input on the appropriate use for the parcels, but Coyne would promise only to listen to their wishes. "We're interested in hearing their ideas, but we have a [sales] process that has already begun to prepare," Coyne said.
He released a letter to local officials from Bishop Richard G. Lennon, who oversaw the closure process for O'Malley. The letter ended, "Together I hope that we can foster unity and cooperation as we move through these months marked by change."
Developers and municipal officials said yesterday that pressure from communities is one of several factors that could affect the sale price of churches. Local boards could try to rezone an area where a church is located, which would decrease the commercial potential. Angry parishioners could stage a lengthy battle to save a parish, which could temper developers' enthusiasm, and preservationists will meet tomorrow to begin the process of trying to spare some significant buildings from being turned into condominiums or commercial space.
However, sale prices could increase sharply in cases where buyers propose uses that meet development needs in communities.
Under the timetable announced by O'Malley, none of the properties would be put up for sale for at least two months, when the first wave of the parishes would be closed. The others would be closed in the following months.
After the Tuesday announcement, David H. O'Brien, who was hired in January to head the Archdiocese's Properties office, said he wanted to begin the marketing of the properties "as expeditiously as possible." O'Brien said he was putting together a team of appraisers, brokers, and property managers.
The only formal guide for how the archdiocese will proceed with the sales is canon law. As described by Coyne, canon law recommends that dioceses first seek to find another religious organization that would be willing to buy the property. Failing that, church officials are advised to seek a buyer that would use the property "to further the social agenda of the church." However, Coyne stressed that the canonical recommendations are not requirements, and added that any buyer must put forward a bid that is considered "reasonably competitive" with the open market.
Marc Draisen, executive director of the Massachusetts Area Planning Council, a state agency that provides planning tools and services to local communities, said municipal officials should quickly ask the archdiocese to cooperate with them in determining how to use the properties. He said the communities and the archdiocese could jointly push for affordable housing on the properties since the archdiocese several years ago identified that as a major need in the area.
The archdiocese is in financial distress, with its central fund alone showing a $14 million loss last year and many parishes facing longstanding and mounting debts, placing pressure on church officials to reap as much revenue as possible from the property sales.
Still, local officials, as well as some developers, said they hoped the archdiocese would take into account the sadness being expressed by parishioners at most of the closing churches.
Arlington Selectman Charles Lyons said town officials plan to talk with the archdiocese about the future of the two Arlington churches -- St. James and St. Jerome -- that will close. The properties are valuable and "we are looking at the [reuse] very closely," Lyons said. "It's an emotional thing for a lot of people, and it's going to take time to get over," he said. "I hope that the church doesn't act precipitously."
Some developers agreed that the sentiments of parishioners of the closed churches, as well as other residents, must be given great consideration before a future use for the buildings is determined.
"There's an incredible amount of sadness surrounding each of these parcels and no one is going to want to go into it without being sensitive to that sadness," said Paul Palandjian, president of Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. of Boston. However, he said, developers would show great interest in the range of parcels, and he expected brisk competition for many of them, placing their overall value far above their assessed value.
The primary use of buildings in inner-city neighborhoods would be housing, particularly condominiums, said Thomas J. Hynes of the real estate firm Meredith & Grew. In outlying communities, churches often are located in or near the center of town, making them attractive for commercial space, Palandjian and Hynes said.
"The goal is to work within the existing structure," Palandjian said. "Only as a very last resort would anyone want to put forward a plan to demolish the structure. These churches contain many of the collective memories of the community. There's no interest in removing them."
Joanna Massey, Kathy McCabe, Christine McConville, and Erica Noonan of the Globe staff contributed to this report, along with Globe correspondent Kellyanne Mahoney. Stephen Kurkjian can be reached at kurkjian@globe.com. 