Chicago Catholic News: Decision soon on St. Boniface? Alderman says, 'We're trying to hash it out'

Decision soon on St. Boniface? Alderman says, 'We're trying to hash it out'

(POSTED: 7/31/09) The lengthy battle over what to do with the vacant and crumbling St. Boniface Catholic Church -- which was visited by vandals over the weekend -- could be nearing resolution.

Representatives of the Archdiocese of Chicago, which owns the historic structure at Chestnut and Noble in Chicago's West Town area, and the Daley administration met Thursday with a developer interested in the site for, at least in part, a senior citizen complex.

That's according to Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), who attended the meeting and said that, while a number of hurdles remain, he is hopeful a decision about the future of the church will be reached within a week.

"We're trying to hash it out," he said. "We're still talking."

While the archdiocese has been willing to sell or lease the building for the right price, it's also pushed to rip it down, going so far as to obtain demolition permits from the city.

With the latest permit expiring in September, the clock is ticking, Burnett said. But a more immediate pressure is last weekend's incident in which vandals broke into the church and, apparently from the bell tower, launched a dislodged piece of a column onto a 2004 Dodge Caravan parked on the street below.

Nobody was injured, but Burnett said this shows there's a real need to do something "sooner rather than later" so nobody gets hurt.

The alderman, along with many neighbors, wants the building saved. The non-profit Preservation Chicago also has argued for landmark status, given the structure's history (it's more than a century old) and design.

City officials are toying with a "land swap" in which the archdiocese would get other land in exchange for St. Boniface.

The developer involved in Thursday's meeting wants healthy government subsidies if he's going to develop the site -- a request that could prove troublesome given the tough economic climate, Burnett said.

"He's looking to restore the building partially and also build a senior building next to it," the alderman said. "But the challenge of it is he's got to get lots of subsidies. . . . We're also trying to work on a bunch of land swaps."

Archdiocesan officials did not respond to several inquiries from a reporter this past week.

St. Boniface was closed by the archdiocese in 1990 and, as Preservation Chicago's Jonathan Fine describes it, "we've been sitting here for 20 years in stalemate."

"If there's a resolution we hope it's a good resolution, not that they're going to demolish it."

Burnett said: "I have faith and, to be quite frank, I'm pushing for something to be developed there."

By ChicagoCatholicNews
Contact: info@chicagocatholicnews.com

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