Repurposed under heaven

Stripped of their religious trappings, area churches live on as condominiums

(Erik Jacobs Photo for The Boston Globe) St. Theresa Church in Watertown is being redeveloped into Bell Tower Place, 11 condos being developed by Phoenix Construction Group.

When developer Tony Pace had the chance to turn the 100-year-old former Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Ipswich into a luxury condo, he sought the blessing of a parish priest.

"I needed to be sure it was OK," said Pace, 45, who was raised Catholic in Medford. "He told me that if I treated it with respect, there was nothing wrong with it."

Guilt about turning a house of worship into a high-end home isn't limited to crib Catholics.

Karnig Ostayan asked his Armenian pastor to bless the former St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Church in Watertown, before turning the church and rectory into 11 upscale condos.

"I want to sleep at night," joked Ostayan, who attends St. James Armenian Apostolic Church, across Mt. Auburn Street. "Seriously, I know how much this church meant to people."

Many a neighborhood church has gone condo. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston shuttered 65 parishes since instituting a sweeping parish consolidation in 2004. At least 30 properties have since been sold, many to developers eager to turn an old church into trendy housing, even in a declining real estate market.

Catholic canon law requires that a church be stripped of religious items, including altars, statues, and crucifixes, before it is sold. Most are passed on to another parish looking for a new Blessed Mother statue or stained-glass windows.

"Our policy is to leave nothing of religious significance behind," said Kathleen Heck , who oversees the transition of parishes for the archdiocese.

And once all the saints have found new homes, what happens to the building?

"It's available for secular use," said Brother James Peterson, head of canonical affairs at the archdiocese.

When selling a church, the archdiocese issues a request for proposals. The goal is to select a buyer whose plan is consistent with church teachings and social mission. The archdiocese pulled out from a deal to turn a Quincy church into a clinic that would have provided counseling on abortion. The former Blessed Sacrament Church in Jamaica Plain is being turned into a mix of upscale, market-rate, and affordable condominiums. The final call on any property sale lies with Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley.

"In general, the cardinal likes to hear about things that are here to help people," Peterson said.

Even if that includes luxury condos, some priced at over $1 million.

"It is providing someone with housing," said Peterson.

Once a property is sold, unless a deed restriction is added, a developer may lay out the new digs to fit their development goals.

In Ipswich, for example, Sacred Heart was divided to make room for two 5,000-square-foot condos. The back unit, where the altar and sacristy once stood, was gutted to make room for a mahogany staircase. A side altar was turned into a kitchen, with a special wine refrigerator. "This was a 100-year-old church with a lot of space," said Mike Girouard, a Burlington developer who built the back unit. "We needed to define the space."

Both developments have a similar ring. In Ipswich, the former Sacred Heart has been renamed Bell Manor, and the original 1911 bell is illuminated within the short steeple atop the church. In Watertown, Bell Tower Place is the name given to the nine condos built in the church, and to two more in the former rectory.

And one of the Watertown condos - going for $880,000 - includes the church's stone bell tower, which has been refurbished with stairs and landings. The fourth floor has a wet bar, and the fifth commands views of Cambridge and Watertown.

"We're trying to make this feel like a home," said Dani Chedid , a partner with Ostayan at Phoenix Construction Group Inc. of Watertown.

Converting an old church into condos is neither quick nor easy: zoning, unique architecture, old wiring, plumbing, and other utilities that must be brought up to modern code.

"This is the first church we've done, and hopefully the last," Ostayan said. "There is a lot of space in a church. We worked a lot on historic restoration."

Said Girouard, "It was a big scope project."

Some challenges: How to deal with cathedral-like ceilings more than 25 feet high? Where do you carve out space for the living rooms, bedrooms? Arched windows, and the original floors, must blend into the design.

Lighting must also be redone. "You don't light up a home, the way you do a church," said Pace as he demonstrated the soft, tract lighting installed at Bell Manor.

Along with the original church bells, each developer kept other touches of the churches. At Bell Manor, the corbels on the columns between the palladium windows have been touched up with a hint of gold paint. At Bell Tower, the walls in some units still have the indentations where the Stations of the Cross were once mounted.

The old touches of church stand in marked contrast to the wet bars, wine cellars, granite counters, crystal door knobs, and other amenities. "We didn't skimp," said Girouard, opening the door of a small wine refrigerator.

Phoenix Construction worked with Watertown officials to create special zoning to redevelop St. Theresa, built in 1927. The Victorian-style rectory next door was converted into two units. The developers also restored the slate-and-granite exterior of the Gothic style church, which closed in 1999.

"It's very unique," said Chedid, a Lebanese Catholic who attends church in Jamaica Plain. "We wanted to keep as much of the original look as possible."

Pace took a similar approach to the former Sacred Heart, built by Polish immigrants in 1908. He kept the stucco exterior and the original, two-inch-thick oak doors. Owner of Pace Properties, he was the second developer to own Sacred Heart, which closed in 1997.

He had redeveloped a shoe factory in Lynn and a nursing home in Malden into trendy condos. But a church just never spoke to him.

"I said, 'No way. I'll never do a church.' "

Assured by a priest he would not risk God's wrath, Pace changed his mind. He agreed to develop one of two units at Bell Manor, leaving the second for Girouard. The matching condos are on the market for just under $700,000.

"God knows," Pace said, smiling, "We've tried to do everything right."

Kathy McCabe can be reached at kmccabe@globe.com.