Provo residents still mourning church's razing

The Rev. Mike Sciumbato, the parish priest at the time, approached the Provo Landmarks Commission to request St. Francis be delisted from the city's landmark register — a status the parish didn't seek and didn't want in the first place. The commission voted 4-1 against delisting, and the matter went before Provo City Council on Feb. 7, 2007.

Meanwhile, a group including historic preservationists and central Provo activists formed and tried to raise funds to spare the church building from the wrecker's ball. The council voted to give the preservationists until April 3, 2007 — 54 days — to come up with the money to buy the church along with the property. When that deadline arrived, the City Council was poised to delist the church from the registry, but a last-minute deal granted a reprieve until April 19, 2007.

According to the deal, the preservation foundation agreed to pay $1.25 million, with $50,000 going to Landmark Partners and $1.2 million going to the Catholic Church. If the deadline wasn't met, the church would automatically come off the Landmark Registry, and the foundation agreed not to seek legal action.

When the day of reckoning arrived, the preservationists claimed they had $1.3 million placed in escrow, but they couldn't transfer the funds to complete the purchase. As a result, St. Francis Roman Catholic Church came off the registry, and it was demolished July 9, 2007.

To this day, there's still a dispute about what happened on the date of the final deadline. Heal still has a copy of an e-mail from Cole Fowler of Inwest Title, stating he received $1.3 million on April 19, 2007, from numerous wires dealing with the Provo Historic Foundation. But an attorney representing Landmark Partners said the foundation showed them no concrete proof of funds by the deadline at 5:30 p.m.

At the time, parish members expressed sadness at seeing a building where they worshiped for many years destroyed, but they saw the building's passing as an important step toward constructing their new Orem church.

But shortly after the demolition, the deal between Landmark Partners and the Catholic Church fell apart.

Preservationists continue to wonder why the Catholic Church demolished the building before the deal was sealed.

"Why did you allow them to tear that building down before you got your money?" Heal asked. "I don't get it."

The Rev. Sciumbato has since left St. Francis Assisi parish and moved up to Salt Lake City. He declined a Deseret News request for an interview on the church property.

"I'm not even involved there anymore," he said before hanging up the phone.

Edward Vozar of Landmark Partners couldn't be reached for comment. But Adam Ford, who acted as legal counsel for Landmark Partners last year, said the group never had the property under contract, and they decided not to go through with the deal for a number of factors.

"There was no rancor between the Catholic Church and Landmark Partners," he said.