By Khang Nguyen

St.Paul’s Presbyterian Church sold for $1

Jul 15, 2015 | 4:26 PM

After being on the market for over a year, the St.Paul’s Presbyterian Church has been sold.

For $1, Prince Albert Baptist Church will make the century-old building their new home.

Negotiations have been ongoing since November 2014 and a final deal was made on Tuesday.

Repair and restoration will begin on August 1 with hopes of opening the doors by December, says Beulah Land Baptist Church pastor Dave Webster.

The new owners plan to give the church a “general face lift” to both inside and outside of the church while still maintaining the historical integrity of the building.

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“This building to me represents a very important part for Prince Albert … the history of Prince Albert is rooted in this church,” Webster said.

This was the best case scenario for St.Paul’s Presbyterian Church, said session clerk Norman Hill.

Hill said the city had given them until July to either begin repairing or demolishing the church.

“There is a load off my shoulders. Definitely a sense of relief that it will remain a church and it will be restored,” he said.

Since October 2013, St.Paul congregation members have not been able to worship in their church due to unsafe structural damage in the attic of the building. Costs of repair estimated around 1.5 million dollars.

“We had to vacate the building. That was a Wednesday and on Sunday we had to find a new place to worship, so we walked across the alley to Wesley United Church,” said Hill.

Initial restrictions of the sale included a condition that the St.Paul congregation could rent space to continue worship. That restriction was removed shortly after the church went on sale and after two years with the Wesley United Church, Hill says they will be continuing their combined congregation going forward.

Despite not worshipping in the church for over two years, saying a final good bye to the church will be tough for some members, said Hill.

“It’s going to be sad. We have people in our congregation who have been here for generations … One of [the members] said it’s going to be sad that this will no longer be a place we will worship but she realizes we have to move on.”

knguyen@jpbg.ca

Follow on Twitter: @khangvnguyen