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News & Features

St. Nicholas Parish reaches agreement to sell property
archived from: 2009-12-07
by: Robert P. Lockwood

St. Nicholas Parish in Millvale, which traces its roots to the first Croatian parish in the United States, has reached an “agreement in principle” to sell its property on East Ohio Street to Lamar Advertising Inc.

The property contains an empty rectory, a former church building, a double garage and a grotto. The former church building has been closed since December 2004 for safety reasons, and the rest of the buildings have not been maintained for a decade.

Father Daniel Whalen, administrator of St. Nicholas, said the property has remained a heavy financial burden for the Millvale parish since it was closed (see commentary on Page 4). “We are selling the property,” Father Whalen said, “to keep the parish alive.”

The parish council and parish finance council unanimously agreed to the sale.

Lamar Advertising intends to use the site to erect billboards for which the area is currently zoned.

All proceeds of the sale of the property will go to the parish, which remains a Croatian ethnic parish in the diocese. The purchase price for the property was not released.

After closing the former church building, all religious objects from the interior of the building were removed, Father Whalen said.

“All requirements of church law have been met long ago to sell the property,” he said.

The parish has not needed the church property on East Ohio Street for more than a decade, “and it has been an extraordinary drain on the parish,” he said. From 1998 through 2008, St. Nicholas Parish has spent more than $540,000 to maintain the property.

The former church building is designated as a local historic landmark, and the parish has been unable to remove the stained-glass windows as statutes prevent alterations to exteriors of designated buildings.

Father Whalen said Lamar Advertising has been very cooperative in negotiating with the parish and has agreed to all the usual diocesan restrictions and safeguards for the transfer of former sacred real property, but has “not expressed to the parish any plans for the buildings” that remain.

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