NORTHAMPTON — After 10 years of vacancy, St. John Cantius Church at 10 Hawley Street has been sold for $1.26 million to a Holyoke-based developer.
The property was acquired by O’Connell Hawley LLC, which is managed by the O’Connell Development Group in Holyoke on March 17 from the Roman Catholic Bishop of Springfield, according to land records.
The sale includes the church, a parish center, and a rectory, according to Mark Dupont, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, which completed the sale for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, located on King Street. The Northampton church will receive the net proceeds from the sale, Dupont said in an email.
St. John Cantius was organized for Polish-speaking Catholics in 1904, and the building has been vacant since 2010 when it and four other churches in Northampton were consolidated by the diocese to form St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish.
O’Connell Development Group did not immediately return a request for comment. Paperwork filed with the city shows that the group plans to build 23 townhomes on the property. Each will be two-bedroom units and three stories high, according to a permit application submitted by the developers.
The developer has the necessary permits it needs to move forward with the project, said Wayne Feiden, director of the city’s planning and sustainability department.
The former parish center, the former rectory, and a garage will be demolished to make way for the new development, according to the developer’s application.
As for the large brick church building, “Right now,” Feiden said, “there’s no plan for the church.”
According to the deed, the property cannot be “put to any use that is inconsistent with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church,” as decided by the diocese.
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com.