A new group formed two months ago to save the 71-year-old St. Francis of Assisi Church. (Historic Provo Preservation Foundation)

UPDATE: The church was demolished on July 9, 2007.

The Historic Provo Preservation Foundation is closer to saving its first building after the Provo city council voted unanimously last week to give the nonprofit two weeks to raise additional funds before removing the St. Francis of Assisi church from the city's historic register.

The group formed in February after the church asked the city council to repeal the designation so that it could sell the 1.3-acre property to a developer.

At last week's meeting, the foundation told the council it could match the developer's $1.2 million offer. But Utah County-based developer Landmarks Property told the nonprofit it needs an additional $50,000 to offset costs the company had already incurred before it would cancel its contract.

The 1936 white-stucco church has been empty since 1999. The congregation, which outgrew the building and currently holds services in a gym, must sell it to finance a new chapel. Father Mike Sciumbato says that there had been 14 offers for the church, but that when potential buyers learned about the historic designation and the limitations it placed on the property, all the offers fell through, including several that proposed reuse of the building.

Sciumbato says that the city added to the church to the register in 1996 without the permission of its owner, the Diocese of Salt Lake City, and that they should remove it.

The community, which opposed the church's request, not only wants to preserve the church but also worries that its demolition would lead to high-density housing just blocks from downtown.

In February, the council gave preservationists 60 days to to come up with a viable alternative. "I think all of us would like to see that property retained, but not at the expense of the Catholic Church," City Councilman George Stewart says.

Kirk Huffaker, assistant director of the Utah Heritage Foundation, feels that the city's zoning ordinance, and not the landmark designation, is source of the problem. "You have an entire downtown, even away from the center, where you can build into infinity," he says, which skyrockets property values and brings little interest in preserving the run-down building.

Misconceptions about historic designations lead people to see buildings as liabilities rather than assets, Huffaker says. "What historic preservation really offers is a broad range of alternatives that [owners] may not be aware of."

If the church accepts its bid, the foundation hopes to renovate the property into a performing-arts venue.

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