Members of the group Save St. Mary's gathered with local officials and neighborhood leaders at St. Charles' Church to hear from church building redevelopment expert Robert Jaeger and architecture student Thomas Cracolici in an effort to move forward with discussions that arose months ago about the fate of the 1940s St. Mary's parish complex.  

 

In October, Dunkin' Donuts franchisee Cafua Management announced its intentions to purchase and raise the 2.2 acre complex of buildings in order to make way for one its drive-through restaurants. But a wave of public outcry lead the developer to modify its plans.

 

Since that time, interested parties have worked with local government and business leaders in an attempt to find other businesses or organizations that would be interested in using the main church building, in order to take advantage of an offer by Cafua to donate the structure to the city.

 

Jaeger, president of the national nonproft Partners for Sacred Spaces, said he has seen a wide variety of reuse options for former churches, including breweries, catering halls, performance spaces and renovation to offices and housing.

 

"Almost anything you can think of has happened in reused churches," said Jaeger, offering examples from his three decades of experience working with communities to preserve former religious sanctuaries.

 

"These are civic assets," Jaeger stated. "We need to think of them less as religious places, and more as places that serve us all, and anchor our communities."

 

Jaeger talked about logistics of the way communities can go about assessing the potential for reusing former churches, how to attract interested buyers and tenants, and funding for such efforts.

 

Cracolici said there were many options for re-purposing former churches, but some respect the existing architecture of such buildings more than others. With this in mind, he outlined one use for which he created an example design, for renovation to a concert performance space.

 

"It would take a lot of work, but it can be done," said Cracolici of his sample design, citing the Colonial Theatre as an example of a project that had informed his sample proposal.  

 

Cracolici's design model, would alter some aspects of the interior but leave the building's exterior largely untouched. Based on the $400,000 to build St. Mary's in the 1940s, Cracolici estimated the current value of the construction work at around $5 million.

 

"So you're saving a lot of money, by preserving these structural features that could easily be converted into a concert hall," Cracolici said.

 

"Thirty percent of commercial space on Tyler Street is vacant. This could potentially help fix that, by bringing a lot of people to the street," he added.

 

Cracolici's design would accommodate a seating capacity of two to three hundred occupants.  

 

Jaeger said in addition to the importance for communities of preserving their traditional gathering spaces, adaptive reuse also offers benefits in sustainability.

 

The question of whether or not two adjacent buildings on the property, the former rectory and convent, would figure into future planning for the church's reuse remains uncertain, according to Save St. Mary's spokeswoman Darcie Sosa.

 

"It's kind of up in the air what that part of the plot will be," she said. "We don't know yet if it will become a Dunkin' Donuts, or if it will remain as it is."

 

"I continue to seek out opportunities for St. Mary's and will not stop until we have a viable option for it," stated Mayor Daniel Bianchi, following the presentation. "St. Mary's is a landmark that Pittsfield treasures."