Deadline is near on saving church

PROVO — The clock is ticking toward a deadline on saving Provo's old, vacant Catholic Church building or dooming it to a date with a wrecking ball.

The Historic Provo Preservation Foundation has until 5 p.m. Thursday to deliver a cashier's check for $1.25 million to the church or to wire the funds.

If it doesn't, then the Spanish Mission-style church will be automatically removed from the Provo City Landmarks Register. That would clear the way for the church to sell the building to Landmark Properties, a development company that plans to tear it down and build condominiums.

The preservation foundation, the city's landmarks commission, the Salt Lake City Catholic Diocese and the developer all agreed during a Provo City Council meeting on April 3 to a surprising deal with a deadline. The agreement bought the preservationists an extra 16 days to raise the cash to buy the building.

The developer agreed to step out of the way for $50,000 to show for his work, and the church agreed to sell the building to the preservationist group for $1.2 million if the foundation can raise the money by this Thursday.

If the foundation fails to come up with the money by the deadline, the City Council agreed the building's protection on the landmarks register would be automatically removed. The church then can sell to the developer. Having been given a last chance, the preservationists and the landmarks commission agreed not file a lawsuit to stop the developer from tearing down the building.

The chairman of the preservation group said he expects the deal will hold together despite some frustration on several fronts over the past week.

"We're on target to meet that deal," Doug Bush said.

Bush sent the diocese a real estate purchase agreement over the weekend that included some conditions and called for a later payment, said Adam Ford, an attorney who represents the developer.

That proposed agreement, rejected by the church and the developer, would have allowed the preservation foundation to pay $50,000 in earnest money on Thursday and have another 15 days to pay the balance of the purchase price. It also would have required the Catholic bishop of Salt Lake City to waive his right to enforce the contract if the foundation failed to perform.

Bush said the number of parties involved has made the situation complex. He declined Tuesday to discuss specific issues that arose in the past week because he was worried that statements made today or Thursday could complicate the situation.

But he also said the foundation is prepared to meet the no-conditions deal agreed to on April 3.

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