The building occupied by St. Demetrios Church on Fort Lowell Road for 60 years will be auctioned next month as the congregation looks for a spot to build a new church and event center.
Its annual Greek Festival, meanwhile, will be on hold for a while.
The popular annual Tucson Greek Fest at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church will be put on pause until the church can find a new property.
A fire at the church in 2013 destroyed the sanctuary and was not salvageable, said Rev. Panteleimon Maillis, the presiding priest.
“We’ve been having our services out of the church hall for the last nine years,” he said. “The church is debt-free so we made a decision to sell the property and use that as seed money to rebuild.”
After a fire destroyed the sanctuary of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in 2013, services have been held from the church hall.
The church is looking for land, at least four acres, on the north side of the Tucson area, Maillis said. More than 70% of St. Demetrios’ congregation lives north of River Road.
The Greek Orthodox church serves about 120 families.
“We would like to find something more centrally located and visible,” Maillis said. “We don’t want to be tucked away.”
The auction of the 5.8 acre property at 1145 E. Fort Lowell Road will be handled by Fine and Co. LLC.
St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church on Fort Lowell Road went up for auction Tuesday.
The existing zoning would allow for single or multifamily residential development, a church, school or commercial use.
The sealed bid auction is scheduled to be held June 1 and a bidder’s packet is required to bid. It can be obtained by contacting the auction house via email at John@fineandcompany.com
Maillis said services will be held at a temporary site, but not the Greek Festival, which is normally held in September.
“But once we rebuild the church, we will bring it back,” he said.
St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church is looking for at least four acres of land for its new church property.
The future site will also include classrooms and event space.
