An Allegheny County judge on Monday gave permission to demolish the former St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church in the North Side, overturning a Pittsburgh Historic Review Commission decision.
Common Pleas Judge Robert Colville ruled in favor of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, saying “a certificate of economic hardship must be issued unless a reasonable use of the property is otherwise available to the applicant.”
St. Nicholas Parish in Millvale sought the certificate to help clear the way for demolition. It said it cannot afford to maintain the building and others along East Ohio Street and that it could not sell the property located just steps off Route 28.
City Solicitor Dan Regan, representing the Historic Review Commission, could not be reached to say whether city officials intend to appeal.
Route 28 is undergoing a $120 million renovation to become a four-lane, limited access highway with no traffic signals between Pittsburgh and Kittanning. PennDOT agreed to go around the church, which the city designated a historic landmark against parish wishes in 2001, court paperwork shows.
The church closed in 2004 and the $1,800 monthly maintenance cost eats up 17 percent of parish collections, said the Rev. Ron Lengwin, diocesan spokesman.
“It's an extreme amount of money,” Lengwin said.
Landmark status prohibited razing the 110-year-old building. A certificate of economic hardship would remove that designation and allow the parish to apply for a demolition permit, Lengwin said.
“We would like to be able to do that,” he said. “There isn't money to do that, which is something we'd have to deal with.”
Demolition of the buildings could cost up to $284,296, and asbestos removal could add $252,000, court paperwork said. Restoration costs could exceed $2 million.
At least one buyer said his offer for the property stands. The Northside Leadership Conference and parish agree on the proposed $1 deal but not on a condition to perform an engineering study on the hillside above the property, said Mark Fatla, nonprofit executive director.
“It's just like when you buy a house and get a termite inspection. If there are termites, you don't buy the house,” Fatla said. “In this case, if the hillside is fine or could be easily repaired, we'd acquire the property. If it's not, we wouldn't complete the acquisition or oppose demolition.”
Although Lengwin said the diocese doesn't oppose the study, Fatla said it hasn't signed a sales agreement.
“They can do it tomorrow if they like,” Lengwin said. “They have to get the money to do the study, and they haven't done that. This has kept dragging on, and the building is getting worse.”
The conference wants to convert the church into an American immigrant museum. Court papers cited studies predicting it could cost up to $7 million to restore the buildings and up to $550,000 a year to run a museum that might attract 25,000 visitors a year.
In his ruling, Colville said, “Nowhere ... is there any evidence to support the suggestion that anybody can or that any responsible party would attempt to raise $7 million in seed money to invest in the renovation of the buildings (on East Ohio Street) for purposes of developing and operating an immigrant museum.”
Said Fatla: “That's just one of the points where we think the judge is in error.”
Tom Fontaine is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7847 or tfontaine@tribweb.com.
