A 100-year-old former Catholic school downtown might one day become an affordable-housing complex with a community center for seniors.
The Marist College, which sits behind St. Augustine Cathedral on South Stone Avenue, has been in a state of disrepair for more than a decade. But officials with the Diocese of Tucson hope it can be saved with a combination of federal tax credit and grants for senior housing and historic preservation.
Previous attempts to save the building, with both public and private funding, were unsuccessful.
The restoration alone could be more than $3 million, said John Shaheen, the director of property for the diocese.
He said the diocese is consulting with some nonprofit agencies that could apply for the federal dollars to refurbish and upgrade the facility.
One such program is the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program that offers $8 billion in annual budget authority to issue tax credits for the purchase, rehabilitation or building of rental housing for low-income residents.
More than a dozen projects have been awarded the tax credits in Pima County, data from the Housing and Urban Development Department shows.
“It would be a great way to provide affordable housing and save a historic building in an urban environment, near transit,” Shaheen said.
There could be up to seven rental units inside the Marist College and the lower floor could become a community center, Shaheen estimates.
The challenge, he said, is finding vacant land nearby where interested developers could also build a 60- to 70-unit affordable housing complex for seniors who could utilize the community center.
Finding new life for the college is one of projects for the diocese in the Cathedral Square, said Ernie Nedder, executive director of the Catholic Foundation.
The church-owned properties are bordered by Ochoa Street on the North; McCormick Street on the South; Stone Avenue on the east and Church Avenue on the west.
Bishop Gerald Kicanas believes the preservation of the buildings is important to the city’s history, Nedder said.
“The bishop’s goal is to take the area from blight to beautification,” he said.
The foundation has raised $2.6 million to date of its $8 million goal for fixing up the area and adding a 500-seat conference center and banquet hall near the cathedral for weddings and other events, Shaheen said.
“We acknowledge that we are part of the blight,” he said, “but we want to be part of the solution.”
Our Lady’s Chapel, just east of Marist College, would also be renovated with the funds.
