Fishtown Church-To-Apartment Conversion Approved Over Opposition
Leo Voloshin's plan to convert the shuttered St. Laurentius Church in Fishtown into 23 apartments doesn't have a plurality of fans in the community, but it's going through anyway.
The Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment, at its Tuesday meeting, pushed through Leo's plans for the 135-year-old church, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The Archdiocese closed the oldest Polish Catholic church in the city in 2013, it was declared structurally unsound in 2014 and, thanks to community support, was designated a historic site the following year and saved from the wrecking ball.
If you're keeping track, that's four straight eventful years for a building few have set foot in over that time. The next few years may be just as busy as Leo goes about restoring the church's exterior while turning the interior into what figure to be as unique as apartments as it gets in Philadelphia. [Philly]
