Commercial Confidential: St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church expansion

CHARLOTTE – Forgive me, Father, for I was curious about your building plans.

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church will be spending about $2 million to add another building to its north Charlotte campus. Photo by Payton Guion

To assuage that curiosity, the Rev. Patrick Winslow spoke of the growth seen at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church since its beginnings in the late 1970s.

At that time, St. Thomas Aquinas served only about 150 families. Now the church has more than 2,300 registered families, representing up to 35 nationalities, Winslow said. With that kind of growth, the church’s original building was never going to be adequate.

“When this parish started … there was a small contingent of Catholics,” he said. “They started on this site with the building that is currently our office building, but at the time it was the church building as well as a few offices. Very quickly the Catholic population in this area grew and they knew they had to build some more.”

That building continues even today. St. Thomas has filed a petition with the city of Charlotte, asking for a site plan amendment that would add a fifth building to the campus. The proposed $2 million, 10,555-square-foot building will be a two-story parish center, where the congregation can have group meetings and the church can add office space.

According to the site plan amendment petition found of the city’s website, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, which oversees the separate parishes, has asked to expand the square footage on the 10-acre site on Suther Road, less than a mile from UNC-Charlotte. The petition asks to expand the square footage to a maximum of 217,800.

The current square footage is 41,762, meaning the church won’t come close to reaching the maximum threshold at this point in time.

St. Thomas has yet to select a contractor because the project is still out for bid and will be until September, according to the St. Thomas website. Winslow invited any interested contractors to contact the church to find out more about the project.

The church will award the bid on Sept. 9 and construction is scheduled to start on Oct. 1, the website shows.

But before construction can begin on the new parish center, St. Thomas will have to get approval from the Charlotte City Council on the planned expansion. Rezoning requests – and in this case site plan amendments – will be reviewed by the city staff; be subject to a public hearing in front of the City Council; and considered by the Zoning Committee before returning to the City Council for final approval.

The public hearing for this project is scheduled for July 21 at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, at 600 E. Fourth St. in Uptown.

Winslow said he isn’t worried that the City Council may reject the petition, since the church isn’t expanding the footprint of its property.

“We haven’t heard any complaints from neighbors at all,” he said. “We’re adding a fairly small building. I don’t think we’ll have much trouble.”

Project description: Dealing with a growing congregation, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church is planning to add a parish center on its campus.

Address: 1400 Suther Road

Square footage: 10,555

Development cost: $2 million

Contractor: None selected, project is still out for bid

Construction begins: If the Charlotte City Council approves the project, construction is set to start on Oct. 1.

Expected completion: May 29, 2015