More than a century ago, residents of Milford, Michigan, handpicked hundreds of stones from across local farms and fields to construct their future church, St. Mary Our Lady of Snows. Today, those stones surround six highly sought-after condominium units in the real estate market.
A developer converted St. Mary in 2015, long after the congregation left the site for a larger parish in 1967. One of the six condos went under contract recently, according to Homes.com data. Listing agent Kristen Scopacasa of National Realty Centers said the $649,900 unit received multiple offers, and the price per square foot is likely to break a Milford record.
The adaptive reuse property spawned such attention, according to Scopacasa, because there were no other homes for sale like it in or around Milford. While turning churches into homes isn't new, continually shrinking congregations are bringing new opportunities, and Scopacasa and other agents across the country have noted high interest. Buyers are attracted to features that are hard to replicate: Gothic-shaped windows, thick stone walls, and, in the case of St. Mary, a spiral staircase leading to what was the former bell tower.
“The response has been amazing,” said Scopacasa. “It’s the most unique property I’ve ever had the pleasure of representing in the market.”
Agent Parri Mitchell of eXp Realty has an offer in for her recent church conversion listing in St. Louis. The condo received an offer in mere days and racked up more than 110,000 views on Homes.com.
As fewer Americans associate with religion, more houses of worship have hit the market either as untouched, often long-vacant buildings — pews, stained glass and all — to fully developed and modernized luxury homes with marble countertops and sleek interiors. A 2020 Gallup poll indicated just 47% of Americans was a member of a church, synagogue or mosque.
The congregation at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Savannah, Georgia, dwindled to below a dozen before it decided to sell the property in 2022, according to a local TV news station. The quaint original 1,900-square-foot church is on the market for $1.6 million after a robust remodel of the 1902 structure, expanding it to 3,200 square feet with a rear addition. It previously sold for $380,000, property records show.
Half the congregations in the country have 65 or fewer members, according to the multifaith research organization Faith Communities Today. These parishes require smaller locations, and their properties are increasingly being listed for sale — ripe for repurposing, industry professionals say.
Churches to homes
A house of worship, if not serving its original intent, could have any type of use, but most often, it’s residential. Ward Miller, executive director at historic preservation advocacy group Preservation Chicago, said residential conversions are a “tried and true” formula for these buildings, often with a good return.
If a developer or organization wanted to turn a former worship space into a community center or business, it would require high levels of funding and investment. The price tag to purchase the property might be minimal, especially if vacant for years, but the cost to convert the space adds up, according to architect Jay Keller of Space Architects + Planners.
A 12,000-square-foot undeveloped church for sale in Dayton, Ohio, is listed for $129,900, for example. Another, an 1865-built church in Marine, Illinois, asks $115,000.
Chicago-based Keller has worked on nine conversions in the past eight years, all of which were in partnership with developers who rented or sold units in former churches (and two synagogues). Keller said it’s expensive to convert a space, though no developer has stopped due to the price. The demand is just too good.
The firm’s most recent completed conversion, St. Boniface in Chicago, became luxury condos priced right below $1 million on the low end. That church, designed by well-known architect Henry Schlacks, sat vacant for 25 years in bad shape with graffiti-filled interiors and boarded-up windows. The developer saved it from demolition, and it sold quickly, said Keller, along with every other conversion project he worked on.
What drives costs up is exactly what draws buyers and investors in — it’s a home built into an unusual structure.
“With a church, it’s always challenging to retrofit for a new use,” Keller said in an interview. “Churches are simply that: never intended to be residences.”
This requires retrofitting insulation and working with engineers to ensure the heating and cooling a unit with a 9-foot ceiling works as well as where the ceiling reaches 15 feet, for one. And it all must function like a 21st-century home, just within a structure that can date back to the 19th century.
Keller said it takes strategic collaboration between architects, municipalities, and developers to convert a building successfully. He’s worked on many landmark buildings, adding an extra layer of complication. Some don’t allow replacing windows, for example, even though a clear window might be better for the occupant, and construction codes require a specific number of operable windows. Even finding where to locate condo units requires identifying the right break in a facade or window line, he said.
These creative design approaches result in features that couldn’t be emulated in a newly built home: an altar in the living room or even stations of the cross embedded into the walls. Perhaps even a wooden door that leads to where a choir would sing.
Another draw of converted houses of worship is that many are centrally located, built decades ago as the focal point of a neighborhood. St. Mary in Milford is only two blocks from Main Street. At 501 Fletcher Ave. in Indianapolis, a converted church condo listed at $1.25 million is blocks from downtown.
It's also especially true for a city such as Chicago, where old churches can be found within a quarter mile of one another. Back in the day, residents needed a congregation for their native language and religion, according to Miller.
“So many people identified where they lived by the name of the nearby church and particularly with Irish, Germans and Italians but also the Polish community in a big way,” he said.
Miller said these “cornerstones of community” can often remain just that when repurposed and saved, rather than another common option of demolition.
“These were built by the faithful with pennies, nickels, and dimes and given to religious organizations to staff, steward and maintain,” said Miller. “When they close, it’s a long-time promise that appears to be broken, and we can heal that sense of brokenness by reusing these buildings for other purposes when they can no longer function.”
Creative thinkers wanted
St. Louis agent Mitchell described prospective buyers at her open house as a “rainbow.” There seemed to be no specific type of buyer interested in the converted church unit — it excited everyone.
“There’s no defined metric on that, I had everything come through,” she said in an interview. “People who were retiring, downsizing, a medical resident living in the area — all different.”
Interior architect Lauren Williams and her husband scoured home listings for a year, waiting for something unique until they found a converted church at 1658 W. Superior St. in Chicago. The home experienced similar high demand when the couple purchased it 14 years ago.
"We had actually wanted a different unit that went off the market immediately, so when this one came on, we made the offer the second we left the first showing," Williams said, who is now selling her unit.
Mitchell has sold plenty of historic properties before but said people often don’t have the stomach when it’s a “truly historic” home. It comes down to the guidelines instilled by historic districts or municipalities and the required elbow grease, which makes a completed church conversion more attractive to buyers.
But for those spots where work is needed, it’s often a creative type of buyer who’s up for the challenge and can bring a healthy perspective to reimagine a space, noted Savannah agent Jessica Kelly of Engel & Volkers.
She has sold four converted properties, including one to an architect, another to an artist professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design, and one to a couple she described as “true creatives.”
That couple, who are selling their converted church they used as a short-term rental, maintained its colorful window panes and used the pulpit to create an open passthrough.
Kelly is also selling a restaurant space that used a converted convent and kept the old chapel.
“People are so drawn to it,” she said.
Both listings are undergoing a “viral moment,” being picked up by popular listing social media pages. One of those accounts with more than 2 million followers even reserves Sundays for highlighting church properties — racking up thousands of likes and hundreds of comments.
“It’s so fun to read people’s reactions to beautiful spaces,” said Kelly.