Reprieve for church?

PROVO — Asbestos is the final obstacle to demolition of Provo's historic Catholic church, and the difficulty of removing the hazardous substance might provide preservationists with another chance to save the building.

Provo has issued a demolition permit to the Catholic Church, the Deseret Morning News has learned. Church leaders now can tear down the building at 172 N. 500 West whenever they're ready.

The asbestos removal is expected to cost more than $100,000, and the complexity of the removal is delaying demolition. That has opened the door for the Historic Provo Preservation Foundation to consider taking another stab at saving the 84-year-old Spanish Mission-style building.

On Wednesday, attorney Adam Ford approached the foundation on behalf of the developers who have an option to purchase the property from the church. Ford said the development company, Landmark Properties, is willing to consider a new deal with the preservation foundation.

"While we're waiting, we're willing to entertain an offer from the foundation for an option," he said. "We said if they want to make a significant offer toward an option, we'd put that in writing and we'll consider it."

The foundation attempted to pay $1.25 million for the land by an April 19 deadline, but Landmark Properties said the money wasn't in the bank on time. The foundation continued to dispute that on Thursday, but the foundation's board met Thursday night to consider Ford's proposal and determine whether it wanted to try to resurrect its effort to save the church.

"The foundation is still committed to pursuing the St. Francis properties," Bush said, "if the

developer is willing to talk about it further."

The demolition permit was issued to the Catholic Church, and the St. Francis Parish decided to tear down the unique building. Landmark Partners has agreed to pay for the demolition but won't take title to the property until after the building is removed.

"We're progressing toward demolition," Ford said, "but the demolition is not imminent. No date has been firmly set. The process is that we're still having to work through some of the issues with asbestos with the two demolition companies, one that will remove the asbestos and one to demolish the building.

"We are not trying to sneak around."

The parish is anxious to complete the sale to Landmark Partners for $1.2 million. That money will go toward a new church building in Orem. Parishioners have worshipped in a gymnasium they built next to the planned new church.