St. Al's Demolition Denied by Preservation Board

The Preservation Board denied a demolition permit for the historic part of the St. Aloysius Gonzaga parish complex in the Southwest Garden neighborhood. (I use the phrase "Southwest Garden neighborhood" even though my mouth forms the words "Fairmont District," but that's another story.) While the application was only for preliminary review of the demolition plans, developer James Wohlert did not prove that the buildings were unfeasible to rehab and his claim that the contract he had on the property contained a must-demolish clause has been disproven by Steve Patterson.

Perhaps now Wohlert will at least cover all of the windows on the church building, left open since the Archdiocese removed the stained glass windows. Perhaps he will clean up the mess left by his tree removal crew, who felled many of the lovely old trees on the grounds of the parish. Hopefully he will perform basic maintenance on the buildings according to city code until a certain future for the buildings emerges.

That future has often been said to be housing. Turn the main church into condominiums, say preservation-minded folks. Does anyone have another idea?