LOGAN SQUARE — One of Logan Square’s oldest churches is now a luxury apartment complex.
The 118-year-old Episcopal Church of the Advent, 2900 W. Logan Blvd., has been converted into nine apartments, which are now renting for $2,200 – $4,000 per month.
All of the apartments incorporate the church’s original details like giant stained glass windows and high-lofted timber ceilings. Interior photos posted to the real estate website Zillow show ornate slabs of stone being used in the kitchen and living rooms.
The apartments are also equipped with modern amenities such as stainless steel appliances and new heating and air conditioning units. There are plans to build an outside patio that would be accessible to all residents.
Of the nine apartments, two of them offer two bedrooms and two bathrooms, four of them offer three bedrooms and two bathrooms and three of them offer three bedrooms and three bathrooms.
Move-ins will begin in February, according to Kass Management, which is handling leasing.
JAB Real Estate is the developer behind the project, which has been in the works for a few years.
After its congregation dwindled to 20 people, the church was put on the market in 2016 for $1.75 million.
The church had closed earlier that year after it lost Nuestra Señora de las Américas, the oldest Latino congregation in the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, which covered half the bills before it vacated the church space. But preservationists said it was an important piece of Chicago history.
The church was founded in 1901 at Temple Hall, 430 W. Fullerton Ave. It wasn’t until 1906 that church leaders bought the Logan Boulevard lot, and the choirmaster at the time, architect Elmer C. Jensen, designed the building that stands today.
Jensen worked for the architectural firm Jensen and Halsted, known for designing and engineering the first skyscraper in 1884.
“This is a noted architect who designed this building, and it wasn’t just another commission for Elmer Jensen,” Andrew Schneider, president of Logan Square Preservation, told DNAinfo. “This was his faith home, so he built the church to last.”
JAB Real Estate’s plans to convert the historic church into apartments had the support of Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), but not Todd Van Alstyne, the former warden of the church.
“I don’t think any of the church members would have been willing to leave the building if they had known it would’ve been turned into luxury condos,” Van Alystyne told DNAinfo in 2017.
“You can keep the neighborhood architecture while at the same time pushing the actual neighbors out. That’s why we’re concerned. If there’s nine luxury [units], that’s going to raise everybody’s taxes and push out longstanding neighbors.”
Empty churches are being converted into homes and arts venues all over the city. In Logan Square, the former Evangelical church at Kimball and Wrightwood avenues was converted into an elite circus school and an 1880s-era church at 2445 W. Washtenaw Ave. was converted into a home.
Check out more photos below:
Do stories like this matter to you? Subscribe to Block Club Chicago. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods.