St. Boniface in West Town gets new owner

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

What do you do with an old, empty, glorious and gorgeous church? Money typically is scarce for the purchase and rehabilitation of churches, and the buildings are hard to adapt for another use. The denominations that established the churches have too many other needs to fulfill, and the congregation can’t afford the upkeep or has moved away.

In the case of the old St. Boniface Church at 1358 W. Chestnut, it took 20 years to figure out what to do with the structure. A solution is close to being executed; West Town neighbors will see activity inside the building soon. In the cynical and financially brutalized realm of real estate, it might be the closest thing to a feel-good Christmas story that’s out there.

After a three-way land trade that involved the city and the Archdiocese of Chicago, St. Boniface got a new owner as of Oct. 20. The owner is Institutional Property Management-Amicus, an Oak Brook-based firm whose chairman, Kenneth McHugh, knows something about straddling the for-profit and faith-based worlds. The former chief operating officer at DePaul University runs a firm that handles real estate projects for others. He’s been involved with the four-school University Center dormitory at State and Congress, the Catholic Theological Union in Hyde Park and the Michigan Avenue home of the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.

The St. Boniface deal, McHugh said, is the first in which his firm has its own money at risk. He’s working on a roughly $20 million plan that calls for razing most of the church but preserving notable parts of its Romanesque facade, including its four bell towers. The tallest of the towers soars to 150 feet. The church opened in 1904 and closed in 1990, while the parish itself of Germans and later Poles predated the Great Chicago Fire.

Grafted onto the towers will be senior housing. McHugh said the first phase could include 75 units, with another 50 units later, but that could change based on the outcome of a marketing study that’s under way. Interior work—removal of pews, filing cabinets and the like—will begin in days, while he plans to start the demolition and the architectural rescue this summer. McHugh hopes to have units finished by late 2012. The design is by Vasilko Architects and Associates Inc.

He hasn’t worked out prices. After his set-aside of 20 percent of the units for lower-income seniors, McHugh hopes to price the rest for those with middle incomes who he believes are bypassed by other developments. Modest pricing is within reach, in part because IPM-Amicus got the church for just $1 in a complicated swap. The archdiocese got a lease to the vacant Byrd School at 363 W. Hill. The city agreed to the deal in the name of saving the architecture and getting the church site and school back to productive use.

McHugh also said he’s considering a form of co-op ownership for the units.

For preservationists and neighborhood residents who over the years fought the archdiocese whenever it leaned toward tearing down the church, the solution is imperfect. Houses of worship should stay that way as a testament to faith and determination, but that’s not always possible.

Many such proposals were floated for St. Boniface over the years. It took a blend of capitalism and civic involvement to get one through. Long before he got the property but while following its controversy, McHugh said he noticed how nobody ever gave up on St. Boniface. “We’ve taken to calling it ‘God’s project,’ ” he said.

Well, we know He works in mysterious ways, so why not through a real estate developer?

Merry Christmas.

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As the market heals, investment sales are picking up, as exemplified by Irvine Co.’s $625 million acquisition of the Pritzker family’s Hyatt Center, 71 S. Wacker.

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