St-Columba Church demolition delayed after residents sign registry

The demolition of a deserted church in Montreal'sNotre-Dame-de-Grace neighbourhoodis going to be halted at least for now.

St-Columba Church, which is 100 years old,has been bought by a developer who wants to knock it down and build seven two-storey homes.

The former churchhas little heritage valueand was deconsecrated several years ago. It closed in 2012.

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The borough set up a registry today to see if people in the area are for the development,or against it.

Late Thursday afternoon, the registry had received more than 166 signatures enough to temporarily halt the church'sdemolition.

'Building in disrepair,' developer says

RobertBlatt is the property developer who wanted to build homes on the lot where the church stands, which is on the corner of Hingston and Notre-Dame-de-Grceavenues. He callsSt-Columbaa "building in disrepair."

The Anglican Church approached Blatt several years ago and asked him to purchase the property. Originally, they wanted a religious organization to buy it, but this did not happen.

Blatt told CBC many people have shown an interest in purchasingone of the homes outlined in his development project, called Seven NDG.

"We've received about 20 to 30 calls and emails a day inquiring about being able to purchase those seven homes," Blatt said. "We're not proposing to build condos for two individuals. We're proposing to build homes for families."

But some residents are against the church's demolition.

"Turning it into seven houses is a terrible mistake. It's not amazing architecture, but it's an icon in our community," said Valerie Taylor, who has lived across the street from St-Columba Churchfor 40 years.

If the demolition isoverturned, there are noplans to renovate the building.

The borough will present the registry at an upcoming council meeting April 4.

On May 2, council must decidewhether to hold a referendum, or just killthe developmentproject entirely.