An Asset for the Junction Neighborhood
Honoring the Past, Building the Future
The History
In 2018, the Diocese of Toledo donated the former St. Anthony’s church building to the Lucas County Land Bank after an outcry from community leaders and neighborhood residents to stop it from being demolished.
After taking ownership, the Land Bank first listened to the residents and stakeholders in the neighborhood about what they hoped to see happen. Through these focus groups, four overarching themes were heard about the reuse of this building:
1. Safety
2. Sustainability
3. Ownership
4. Leadership
With those themes in hand, the Land Bank asked The Toledo Design Collective and Rudolph-Libbe to complete a feasibility study that assessed potential redevelopment options and the costs associated with them. You can read the complete Feasibility Study below.
Redeveloping the Building
Starting in October 2020, the Land Bank began marketing St. Anthony's for sale to attract a developer/operator who would use the building in a way that benefits the Junction neighborhood. To date, those efforts have not identified a private operator that would sustainably use the building for such benefit.
In December 2022, the Land Bank received a $4 million Community Project Funding appropriation from the Department of Housing and Urban Development through Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur to make critical investments in the building and adjacent land.
The Land Bank is working now with other partners to identify all the funding needed to complete a full renovation of the building to a "white box" state, to build an adjacent parking lot for the building's use, and explore a solar array canopy on that parking lot to sustainably power the building's operations.
Uses including community recreation remain high on the list of long-term goals. We look forward to taking the next steps on this project in partnership with residents and stakeholders!
