Photo by Ryan Hutton
After months of uncertainty and pleas to preserve it as a historic building, the former St. Gregory The Illuminator Church across from City Hall is being demolished, The Eagle-Tribune reports.
The building that housed the region’s Armenian congregation until recently when parishioners moved to the Armenian Apostolic Church at Hye Pointe, was sold to the owner of the Domino’s Pizza on Main Street. City officials have said the plan is to open a Domino’s Pizza at the location of the old church, and possibly retail shops.
Parishioners tried for years to sell the deteriorating church in order to fund construction of a new church on Boston Road. The Armenian Apostolic Church at Hye Pointe is now located there.
A planned sale, which would have led to St. Gregory’s demolition and the construction of a Burger King, was rejected by the city’s Board of Appeals in 2010.
Despite never designating the church as a historic site, the city’s Main Street Historic District sought last summer to delay the church’s sale and demolition, citing its opposition to the potential creation of a plaza similar to those located farther north on Main Street.
After a proposed ordinance to give the city’s Historical Commission more say in the demolition of buildings was rejected by the City Council, the parish was able to proceed with the sale of the old church to a developer.
