OLD TOWN — A humble, historic 140-year-old red-brick church just off Lincoln Park appears ready to enjoy more years of use after a dance company signed a contract to buy it.
Hermon Baptist Church, 1754 N. Clark St., is being bought by Giordano Dance Chicago, which boasts of being "America's original jazz dance company," now in its 54th season, and recently moved from Evanston to the South Loop.
"They intend to reuse the space, versus knock it down and try to build a tower," said Scott Siegel of Jennings Realty, the agent on the sale. "They're going to renovate the existing structure."
"Both parties anticipate that the building will serve as the future home of Giordano Dance Chicago’s rehearsal and administrative space," the company said in a statement released by Siegel. "Hermon Baptist Church is making plans for its future home, and given that the real estate transaction is currently underway, no further details are available at this time. We look forward to sharing more details in the coming weeks and months ahead."
Michael McStraw, executive director of Giordano Dance Chicago, credited "the generosity of an anonymous individual donor" with expediting the sale.
Siegel said he "definitely" hoped to have the sale close before the end of the year, possibly in the third quarter.
Hermon Church was built in the late 1800s by African-American domestic workers on the North Side and Gold Coast who didn't want to have to make the trek to the South Side to worship on Sundays.
The church, however, is now dwarfed by neighboring condominiums and high-rises, and the Rev. Kevin Edwards said last year the congregation was looking to sell and move to another location with more parking in order to grow.
The church went on the market then for $4.1 million, but a bid to buy it and raze it for another tower condominium was scuttled when neighbors resisted a required zoning change.
It went back on the market this year at a reduced asking price of $3.5 million, but the church made it clear it would not make the sale contingent on a zoning change.
That issue appears to be moot, now that the church has been sold to the dance company.
"I think they're going to be good neighbors with the condo association that's behind them and the neighborhood in general," Siegel said.
McStraw said, "The board of directors, staff and artistic leadership of Giordano Dance Chicago are deeply excited by the prospect of bringing our trademark energy and passion to this deeply spiritual space and surrounding neighborhood."
Without revealing the final agreed cost, Siegel said, "We feel that we got a fair price."
