Church looks to sell land

[attach]1255[/attach]Faced with dwindling attendance and excess space, officials at Asbury and West United Church are hoping to sell off land and breathe new life into their place of worship.

The Lawrence and Bathurst area church has submitted a zoning application to the city to build condominiums on the site.

Should their application be approved, the church has an agreement to sell a portion of their land to Options For Homes, a non-profit organization that builds condominiums.

The proposed building would consist of a 13-storey residence on Bathurst Street, and a 14-storey residence to the rear, on Saranac Boulevard. The structures would be connected via a one-storey base building.

Church member and chair of the architecture committee Pauline McKenzie said plans to renovate have been in the works for the past eight years.

“What we’ve got is a great, big, old, sprawling building which doesn’t meet our needs anymore,” she said. “And there’s a daycare in the building that no longer meets regulations, it’s just grandfathered.”

While the sanctuary currently seats 800, McKenzie estimates only about 300 people actually come to worship in the church.

“So, we would like to reduce the size of the sanctuary,” she said, adding they also want to level the sloped room to use it for other activities. The daycare would also be given access to the entire basement, McKenzie said.

Originally, officials wanted tear down all three church buildings on the site, and build a smaller, more modern church, but Toronto’s heritage staff said they must retain the northerly building, built in 1958.

While that building will remain a church space and be renovated, the church is free to tear down the original 1899 worship structure of the church, and a sanctuary that was built in 1958.

Details of the plan will be presented to the community at a public consultation being scheduled for this month.

“We’re hoping to get strong community support because we think it’s an excellent project,” McKenzie said.