Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 8/30/2022
NORTHAMPTON – During a lengthy meeting on Aug. 24, the Northampton Community Preservation Committee (CPC) voted unanimously to recommend $500,000 in Community Preservation Act funding for the rehabilitation of the former St. John Cantius Church.
Background
In 2010, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield closed the church at Hawley Street and Phillips Place after a myriad of parish consolidations. After several groups put forth redevelopment plans for the church, which was built in 1913 by Polish Catholic immigrants, O’Connell Development in Holyoke purchased the property for $1.26 million after failed redevelopment efforts.
O’Connell initially said they would preserve the church and put townhouses around it, but the coronavirus pandemic put a dent in that plan, so the development group applied to demolish the church entirely for five units of three-story houses for 10 Hawley St.
Also in 2021, the city offered to buy the church for $550,000 to use the property for the city’s Community Resilience Hub, a resource center for the homeless. O’Connell, however, declined the offer in the fall.
After pushback from the public about the possibility of the church’s demolition, O’Connell returned with a redevelopment plan for the church this past spring.
The CPC meeting
With the recommendation by the CPC, the development group will now go in front of the City Council at a future meeting to see if the council will officially approve the $500,000 for the redevelopment plan.
O’Connell hopes to use this money to fund repairs to the church’s masonry wall and its roof where tiles are cracked and missing, and gutters and downspouts must be replaced. The money is part of a broader $4.6 million project to build 10 residences for rent.
The city’s Historical Commission voted to support renovation plans during an Aug. 8 meeting. Should O’Connell receive the money, the commission will accept responsibility for enforcing a preservation agreement on the property.
According to Brian Adams, the chair of the CPC, the body received close to 61 letters before the Aug. 24 meeting regarding the redevelopment plan. Adams said 48 of the letters were in favor of the plan while 13 were opposed.
“With the exception of maybe one instance, everyone likes the idea of historic preservation,” said Adams. “There are quite a few people who are very much opposed to public financing for the historic preservation.”
Committee members, as well as some people from the public, were concerned about the idea of providing public money to a privately-owned church that will ultimately be utilized for market rate housing, rather than affordable housing.
“It seems to me from my reading that everyone is in favor of historic preservation, but not everyone is in favor of public monies to go toward historic preservation,” said Adams.
George Kohout, president of Friends of Northampton Trails and member of the Planning Board, was one of the several public commenters who spoke against the possibility of a $500,000 appropriation for O’Connell.
“[The church] is a historic touchstone for many of the immigrants o that area and for the many people who grew up in Ward 3,” said Kohout. “If we lost it, we would surely miss it.”
Jackie Balance, a resident who also spoke during the public comment portion, also appeared hesitant to support the allocation of $500,000 for this redevelopment plan. “I think that a half of a million dollars is a lot of money to give somebody who is going to make a big profit transforming one of our architectural treasures of Northampton,” she said.
“I’d feel really different if it wasn’t market rate housing,” said another resident. “If it was affordable housing in there, great, that would be a wonderful thing.”
According to Matthew Welter, the vice president of development for O’Connell, the redevelopment plan will not include an ownership or condominium structure, but the $500,000 is necessary for the group to develop the 10 residences for rent. He also said that the rebuilt church with 10 market-rate rental units, will be on the city tax roll, which means there will be a payback. “I think a for-profit developer is probably in the best position to take on that financial responsibility that will be significant,” said Welter.
According to Sarah LaValley, Northampton’s conservation and preservation planner, without an historic preservation, the property could be resold at $640,000 more.
Accompanying the vote were a few conditions that O’Connell must consider as the project progresses. They will have to document that their work fits with a historic structures report, and they also must hire a historic preservation consultant.