Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Last week, the Buffalo Catholic Diocese laid the groundwork for its "Road to Renewal" plan to reshape its parishes and worship sites across the eight counties it covers in Western New York.
At this time, the Diocese has 196 total worship sites that include 160 parishes and 36 secondary worship sites. Under the framework established in the "Road to Renewal" plan, the Diocese will see 81 parishes either close or merge, while adding three more secondary worship sites to be left with 79 parishes and 39 secondary worship sites.
That means that 78 sites owned by the Buffalo Catholic Diocese will close, and eventually be sold by the Diocese on the open market.
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Rev. Bryan Zielenieski, Vicar for Renewal and Development, who leads the Road to Renewal effort in Buffalo, says the Diocese understands the challenge that comes with selling off some of these properties.
"We have our Buildings and Properties Department here at the Diocese, and we trust that they have the right connections with people to help us really market the properties to the best of our ability, and making sure that we're following proper procedures, protocols," said Rev. Zielenieski during last week's announcement at the Catholic Center downtown. "There are those groups that are out there that are sometimes looking for historical buildings of that nature, and we just hope that they come forward at this time."
When it comes to the listing of the churches for sale on the market, Rev. Zielenieski says it follows the same process as if someone was to sell their own home.
"You get your home appraised, we get our churches appraised. They come back with the value, it gets placed on the market through a realtor. And then you contact the realtor company, they go through collecting the bids, and then it's just a regular process of where the consulters will then consult on what those offers are, does it meet the expectations of what a sale should in that area based on the appraisal," Rev Zielenieski detailed. "And then it's approved by the consulters, the parish family and community leadership there, and then ultimately by the bishop."
Peter Hunt, CEO of Hunt Real Estate, feels that by now, the Diocese would have had some real estate professionals or appraisers go through a number of the buildings to try to get an idea of what their present value would be.
"I don't know what they're going to do, but I would suspect they would not put them all on at once. They would stagger them over a period of time, first of all, just to see what market acceptance might look like, and also to see if there's not some type of pattern that's developing, in terms of the adaptive reuse of buildings," Hunt said with WBEN.
Hunt believes the route of adaptive reuse with any of the properties the Diocese would sell is going to be a longer term view, because there's been very few, what he describes as, successful projects, along those lines.
"For example, we were involved in one at the corner of Bird and Hoyt, there was a church that had been vacant for some time, was acquired and we acquired an adjacent property, and we adapted it into 12 condominiums. The timing was good and things went well, but it was a very difficult architectural and engineering project," Hunt noted. "I would suspect that all the churches involved in this process are going to be difficult to adapt. It's a real challenge when you've got relatively large spaces, the sanctuaries in these buildings that are large. Big spans, there's often very beautiful glass. How do you incorporate that into residential usage?"
Another way these buildings could be adaptively reused for any prospective buyer is for spaces like an event center, such as the Buffalo Chamber Players, which is located at the corner of Delaware Avenue and W. Tupper Street in Downtown Buffalo.
"That used to be a Methodist Church, and it's a very, very successful event center now. That would be another possibility, and that would really depend upon location," Hunt noted. "But what we're seeing now throughout the whole region is they are seemingly more-and-more of the event center, special use kind of retail properties, as opposed to an ongoing retail property like a store or restaurant, for example. And I'm not so sure there's going to be a need for 50, 60 or 70 more of those things."
Perhaps another group that could be interested in any of these facilities to hit the market is denominations or religions that are growing throughout Western New York.
"The Muslim faith is growing, and I would suspect there will be some groups within that faith that would be very interested in these buildings. And I'm not saying just Muslims, but there are going to be other religious groupings that may be attracted to these properties, just because they would be a good fit for them. And if they're part of a growing denomination, then I think it could work out very well and very quickly," Hunt said.
One issue throughout the sale process for these worship sites could come if anyone is trying to have a specific site declared a historical site.
"If they have not been declared historic sites, there may be very few restrictions. But the community itself can lobby for this such as that the building, it'll be very difficult to adapt the exterior of the building, in particular, and in many cases, most of the interior as well, which means there's just that much less of an opportunity for any adaptive reuse," Hunt explained. "I kind of hope that doesn't happen, but if it's already happened to a particular building, then whoever buys it is going to deal with that."
How long could these worship sites end up lasting on the market? Hunt says it all depends on the location, as well as the condition of the building.
"Some of these buildings aren't that old, some have schools attached to them. So there's going to be, let's say, more possibilities for some buildings than others, in terms of potential purchasers," he said. "But if you're looking at an older church, an older building, perhaps a very beautiful older building in an older neighborhood where they're surrounded by residential and commercial properties that are not increasing rapidly in value, it's going to be a tough sell. So it's going to be a mixed bag, that's all there is to it. There's going to be some buildings that move quickly, others could sit there for years. We've seen all of that."