From the south

Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church, located at the corner of Fitzwater St. and Grays Ferry Ave., was listed for sale last week for $2.5M. The church, which occupies about 20K sqft of space, includes a sanctuary for nine-hundred with a balcony, a seven-story bell tower, and a rectory building with ten rooms and four bathrooms. The building was originally constructed in the late 1800’s and was occupied until about ten years ago by Saint Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church. St. Matthew’s has been around since the twenties, and moved into their current building in 2000 after seventy years in Point Breeze. They paid $325K.

Rectory building

This summer, St. Matt’s and near neighbors have been going back and forth on where congregants can park on Sundays. When St. Matt’s originally came to the neighborhood, they agreed to park at Pierce school on Christian St., but in recent years, more and more people had been parking illegally on the north side of Grays Ferry Ave., creating a dangerous situation for cyclists and pedestrians. Despite back-room deals to set aside spaces in bike lanes on South St. or create special Sunday parking zones on Bainbridge St., neither the church nor the neighbors have found a solution that either side likes, let along one that both agree on. It seems that this problem will soon resolve itself- according to a story in the Inquirer, the church is moving to a site north of Center City that will offer easier parking.

View from the north, on Grays Ferry Ave.

Will this classic building meet a similar fate as others in the neighborhood and meet the wrecking ball in favor of “Graduate Hospital Specials?” Will another house of worship be able to afford to purchase this enormous, expensive building? Would residents across the street at Naval Square support a more interesting use, like a playhouse or a music venue? Would St. Matt’s be willing to lease the space instead of selling it? Where are the polling places going to move to? Would any other use just bring the parking problems right back to the forefront? We may not know the answers to these questions right now, but you can bet we’ll be keeping an eye on things as always.

Future Wegmans?