Church gets a reprieve

PROVO — Call it a miracle of St. Francis, call it good government, call it a win-win ... call it whatever you like, but it appears the old Catholic church building on Provo's 500 West Street will escape the wrecking ball.

Somehow, late Tuesday night in the middle of the Provo City Council meeting, four factions negotiated a deal that will give a preservation group 15 more days to raise $1.2 million to buy and save the building or remove all obstacles to tearing it down.

The City Council unanimously agreed to wait until 5 p.m. on April 19 to remove the building from the city's landmarks register.

The developer who offered the church $1.2 million for the land agreed to step aside if the preservation group delivers that amount, plus $50,000 for work done by the developer, before the deadline.

The chairman of the Historic Provo Preservation Foundation, BYU music professor Douglas Bush, said the group would have the money in time.

Bush also agreed along with the chairman of the Provo Landmarks Commission to influence anyone considering a lawsuit to stop demolition of the building to forgo that option because of the agreement.

An increasingly rancorous meeting evolved into a real estate negotiation that several area Catholics said made them uncomfortable before it took a sudden turn.

Adam Ford, an attorney representing the developer, made a promise to the council that he said was legally binding: If the foundation delivered $1.25 million in two weeks, the developer would accept it and step aside.

Mayor Lewis Billings jumped on the offer and suggested a deal like the one that saved the former BYU Academy Square a decade ago.

If the developer would stand by the offer, and the preservationists agreed not to sue if they failed to deliver on their promises, the sides would agree to a 16-day deadline.

"If they come up with the money, we're good," Ford said. "If not, they've committed to no lawsuits."

Council Chairman George Stewart called a 10-minute recess and the sides hammered out the details.

The St. Francis of Assisi Parish has tried for 10 years to sell the building. It left the site seven years ago to worship in a gymnasium the parish built in Orem next to the plot where it planned to build a new church — if it ever sold the old building in Provo.

Without the parish's permission, the building was placed on the city's landmarks register in 1996, as was an off-campus BYU building.