All Saints Catholic Church, the only Catholic church in Buffalo’s Riverside section, will be put up for sale – likely this fall – as part of a plan to market a large school building, parish hall and rectory adjacent to the church.
Parish leaders say they prefer to keep the church and sell just the other buildings, but the plan calls for all the properties to be listed so as not to discourage potential developers. At the same time, they’re trying to raise money for repairs that will allow groups to use a portion of the school building again and generate some rental income for the parish of about 200 families.
The entire school building on Esser Avenue has been off limits for months because the fire alarm system needs about $12,000 in repairs that are slated to begin in mid-August. Those fixes would allow the parish to reopen the first floor of a newer portion of the school for Boy Scout meetings, as a polling site and for other uses.
The church at the corner of Esser Avenue and Henrietta Street remains open and will continue to host Mass on Sundays.
“Listing the property is not because we’re closing, but rather because we’re trying to stay open,” said Richard Kaiser, an All Saints Parish trustee. “It sounds odd, but putting the property up for sale is actually a means to trying to keep the church open.”
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