WEST RIDGE — A closed religious school campus in West Ridge will likely retain that same use after being bought by a nearby Orthodox Jewish elementary school.
Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov – Yeshivas Tiferes Tzvi Elementary School has bought the former St. Timothy campus at 6326-6330 N. Washtenaw Ave., property records show. The sale means a new life as a school is likely coming to the parish that closed for good last year.
Joan Dach Bais Yaakov bought the combination church-and-school building, rectory and parking lot from the Archdiocese of Chicago for $2.95 million, according to property records and a marketing email from the property’s listing agent.
The archdiocese authorized the sale of the campus in 2021 after merging St. Timothy with nearby St. Henry and St. Margaret Mary parishes the previous year. The merged parish known as Holy Child Jesus Parish operates out of the St. Margaret Mary campus at 2324 W. Chase Ave.
The sale of the St. Timothy campus will benefit the newly formed Holy Child Jesus parish, according to a 2021 decree by the archdiocese.
The archdiocese did not respond to a request for comment. The listing agent for the archdiocese declined to comment.
St. Timothy Parish was established in 1925. The school closed in 1993 after merging with seven other Catholic schools in the West Ridge and Rogers Park area, according to a Tribune report that year. St. Ignatius, a Rogers Park parish that closed in 2020, also saw its school close in 1993.
Attendance at St. Timothy’s Sunday worship declined by 46 percent over the past two decades before the merger, according to the archdiocese.
Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov was founded over 60 years ago and has grown into the largest Jewish elementary day school in the Midwest, according to its mission statement.
The school is located at 3200 W. Peterson Ave. It is unclear if the school is moving to the former St. Timothy campus or if it will open an additional campus in the neighborhood. School officials did not return a request for comment Monday.
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