The former Our Lady of Mercy is being renovated into four high-end apartment units.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — In a few months, four high-end rental units inside the former Our Lady of Mercy church on State Road will be hitting the housing market.

 

Scarafoni Associates purchased the church last summer to repurpose it for residential use.

 

The 1916 building has a solid concrete foundation, steel roof, and thick walls allowing the company to retrofit the inside into unique housing while maintaining the exterior mostly as it has been.

 

"We think these buildings need to be saved," said David Carver of Scarafoni Associates on Friday. "The quality of the structure is very good."

 

This is the second church and third former Catholic diocese property Carver has taken on. He renovated the former St. Raphael's Church in Williamstown into an eight-unit affordable housing project and turned the former Notre Dame School in Pittsfield into market-rate apartment rentals.

 

With the North Adams church, the company is trying to hit a high-end market with rents starting at $1,600.

 

"These are rentals but they are bigger than most condos you can rent in the area," Carver said. "The location is good. It is halfway between North Adams and Williamstown."

 

The front door will be the access for a second floor, 1,350 square-foot unit. At the top of the stairs, the choir loft railings are being saved along with a large window facing Mount Greylock — the top of which retains the church's stained glass. New floors are being built out from the choir loft that will stretch about halfway across the sanctuary space and walls will divide out two bedrooms, the bathroom, kitchen, dining room and laundry room.

 

The other three units will be accessed by the door on the west side of the building, where the parking lot is located. That door will open to a short hallway and to the right, two nearly identical units are being build in the sanctuary area. Those units are 1,300 square feet and 1,250 square feet and stretch back toward the front doors of the church. Those feature living room areas with tall ceilings and some of the stained glass.

 

The area where the alter had stood is being transformed into a two-floor, 1,250 square foot unit. A bedroom and bathroom will be located upstairs while the other bedroom, living room, and kitchen will be downstairs.

 

The choir loft in the former church will retain some of the stained glass on the large windows facing State Road.

"We're trying to maintain as much of the high quality historic pieces as we can," Carver said. "We're trying to incorporate some of the stained glass into the floor plan."

 

The reconstruction of the inside started in earnest in January, Carver said, and he hopes to have them rented in June.

 

The units haven't been priced yet but Carver expects them to be no less than $1,600 a month with heat included.

 

Carver says that is at the top end of the market in Berkshire County but inexpensive compared to larger cities.

 

"It is very difficult to find high-quality rental units," Carver said of the area. 

 

The housing market in the Berkshires is filled with much more inexpensive units, which makes projects like the church more difficult. The construction costs are the same as in other cities but the prices are lower in the Berkshires.

 

Churches need a lot of work to repurpose in order to comply with building codes and crafting a functional floor plan for housing, Carver said. 

 

To make the numbers work, the company opted for fewer higher-end units. 

 

"If this was 40 units, it's just not feasible," Carver said. "We're looking for four people who want something very interesting."

 

Our Lady of Mercy is just one of many former Catholic churches in the county that have were put on the market by the Diocese of Springfield after a wave of closings. Some have been put to new use, like St. Raphael's Church or the Notre Dame in Pittsfield, which was turned into Shire City Sanctuary. Other churches have been demolished and or remain in limbo. 

 

Notable church closings include St. Francis in North Adams, which was eyed to be demolished to make way for a CVS, and St. Mary's in Pittsfield for a Dunkin' Donuts. Fierce opposition grew in both cities halting those plans. St. Stanislaus Kostka in Adams was supposed to be closed but a three-year vigil kept the diocese from shutting the doors. St. Theresa's in Pittsfield faced the wrecking ball to be replaced by Berkshire Place's new residential facility. 

 

"The big churches are tough," Carver said. "They are difficult properties to repurpose."

 

Carver said adding to the challenge of transforming a church into housing is that state historic tax credits often can't be used because of the amount of changes that have to be made to the building.