I have a cathedral/church built in 1928 under contract in growing downtown area; do any developers on here know of any good examples of successful church redevelopments around the country that were not converted to residential/multifamily or office? I am curious if there is something out of the box that could be done.

Lots of them in Europe converted to single-family homes, restaurants, retail, or even bars.

I'd love a fun restaurant/bar in a church!

Church and Union in Charleston is very well done.

Loro on 11th in Houston was also done pretty well.

There was also a place in Houston that was originally Mark's and then One Fifth on Westheimer and Dunlavy but it's now closed.

Nm

How big? I've seen a couple converted to private / Montessori schools

Falcon10 said:

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I have a cathedral/church built in 1928 under contract in growing downtown area; do any developers on here know of any good examples of successful church redevelopments around the country that were not converted to residential/multifamily or office? I am curious if there is something out of the box that could be done.

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How many sf and how big of a land site?

In the montrose area of Houston there was an old church that was marks and then one fifth. Great restaurants. Definitely not 1928 though.

If small enough fine dining with craft cocktails and maybe a private room in one of the supplemental portions of the church would be awesome in a "growing downtown" area.

Tough without more details/context but you make it sound like it's a smaller market. If so and it could support that concept you could be the talk of the town!

Interested to see how it plays out. Keep updating if you can.

Reee Developed...

https://stjamescabaret.com/

Brewery/pub.

Ascension (coffee company in DFW) recently converted an old church into a coffee shop in a prime east Dallas spot. It looks incredible.

https://ascension.coffee/pages/white-rock

It was Dream Merchant waaay before Marks. Where I bought my first Doc Martens in the 80s. Cool store.

Good coffee. And love the White Rock area.

I went to a party once in a college town where the old church was used by post college "professionals" as a place to live and party. Lots of mattresses all over the place. Fun party. Didn't feel like mass.

You could do something really cool with an old church with cool architecture. Do share photos when you can.

There's one in downtown Norfolk VA that is a restaurant

Red Pear Realty said:

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Lots of them in Europe converted to single-family homes, restaurants, retail, or even bars.

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I went to a restaurant in West Virginia of all places a few years ago that was a renovated church. Very cool

TimsParents said:

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There's one in downtown Norfolk VA that is a restaurant

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Yep we ate there when we lived there back in the 90's but I don't remember the name.

How are the event/music venues in your town?

Most churches would work for live music - good acoustics, stage & seating area. Throw in a bar at the back, some food & it's a restaurant when no music.

Falcon10 said:

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I have a cathedral/church built in 1928 under contract in growing downtown area; do any developers on here know of any good examples of successful church redevelopments around the country that were not converted to residential/multifamily or office? I am curious if there is something out of the box that could be done.

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I haven't done it, but a good example is Peter & Paul hotel in NOLA.