St. John’s Baptist Church has been sold for $1 million and will be transformed into 26 apartments, writes Jake Blumgart for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The conversion will occur as part of a Philadelphia City Council law passed in 2019, which preserves large, neighborhood-scale historic buildings like churches.
The historic South Philadelphia church dates back to 1892, and has been vacant since it was closed in August 2024.
It was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 2020.
The 2019 law that will allow the former church to be converted into apartments is after a number of neighbors in Fishtown managed to delay a redevelopment project of a former elementary school with lawsuits until the building was in poor enough shape to be razed.
Paul Steinke, of the Preservation Alliance, said these new zoning laws help not only preserve these historically designated properties, but also “returning them to productive, taxpaying use and strengthening their surrounding neighborhoods.”
The property is owned by Drew Palmer, while the developer is Annex Investments II. Meawnhile, the remodel design is by Philadelphia-based firm, Toner Architects.
Annex wants to insert additional floors to the church building, and also plans to include large dormers to the roof to allow more light into the future units.
Read more about St. John’s Baptist Church’s conversion project in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
