In 1901, the Fourth Reformed Church moved from its original location on Main Street into some new digs. The congregation worshipped in this building at the corner of Manayunk & Monastery for almost seventy years. Since then, the beautiful structure has largely sat empty, slowly deteriorating and poorly maintained by its owners, according to an article from Montgomery Media. But a couple of years ago, developer Andy Thomas stepped forward with a plan to reuse the building for housing. That plan is moving forward as we speak.

Recent shot

Manayunk Ave.

The plan, according to the sign on the building, is to convert the church and bell tower into eight one-bedroom condo units. The condos start just under $200K. In addition, four town homes are part of this project, with three on Martin Street and one on Monastery Street. The homes have all the bells and whistles we’ve come to expect, and start at $450K. From what we understand, at least one is under agreement at this time.

No question, it’s wonderful to see an old and vacant building coming back into active use. Comparing this project to what we’ve seen in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood in recent years, it’s also nice to see a developer who’s interested in preserving the existing neighborhood architecture and isn’t looking to simply tear down and replace with new construction. Not to say that the demolish and rebuild approach doesn’t have a role to play in neighborhood redevelopment, but it’s usually our preference to see the adaptive reuse.

We’re going to try to get a tour of one of the units of this building once the renovation is finished. We’ll be interested to see just how many original details have been preserved and integrated into the condos.

Does anyone who lives in the area have any idea when the project is scheduled to wrap up? It seems to be moving rather slowly through the process.