St Ann Catholic Church, 310 N Olive Avenue, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA / Built: 1913 / Building Usage: Place of Worship

Tony Doris
Palm Beach Post
Published 8:00 am ET March 26, 2021
Updated 1: 21 pm ET March 29, 2021

WEST PALM BEACH — One of the oldest churches in Florida, she's graced the slight rise above the Lake Worth Lagoon since 1895.

The Hurricane of 1928 made off with her steeple. And as years passed, a wall of city and county halls, hotels, apartments, and offices grew up around her, isolating her campus from the downtown bustle but framing her soft-spoken charm.

On Monday the city commission took an initial vote to declare St. Ann Catholic Church a local landmark, recognizing an institution that has stood its ground at 310 N. Olive Ave. for as long as West Palm Beach has been a city.

The church's five buildings gained "historic" designation in 2003 but the additional label of "landmark" will entitle the parish and diocese to sell more of its unneeded development rights, to replace the steeple, and restore and improve a property that has withstood more than a century of South Florida heat, wind and salt air.

Monday's vote, though unanimous, did not go as well as the church hoped.

While the church spent three years planning the property's rehabilitation, city staff didn't tell church representatives until Feb. 24 that changes to the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program meant St. Ann could expect far less money from selling its TDR's than it counted on for the project.

The TDR program allows historic buildings whose zoning would allow them to build bigger structures, to instead sell the rights to that unneeded square footage to developers who want to enlarge projects elsewhere downtown. Thirteen churches in downtown West Palm qualify for the program and three have made use of it.

Under the original rules, St. Ann could have made roughly $3.8 million from a TDR sale, which the church planned to use to attract matching donations. But under the revised formula, church officials were disturbed to learn, much less square footage could be sold, potentially bringing only $2.1 million.

Architect Rick Gonzalez, retained by the church, estimated renovations will cost $6 million to $8 million.

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
www.pbcgov.org/papa/Asps/PropertyDetail/PropertyDetail.as...
www.gpsmycity.com/attractions/st-ann-catholic-church-4622...
stannchurchwpb.org/our-parish/church-history/
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIqV2deTwXg
www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2021/03/26/west-palm-chu...

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Taken in: United States / Florida / West Palm Beach (show map)

Taken on: October 8, 2022

Tags:

St Ann Catholic Church

310 N Olive Avenue

Florida

USA

Built: 1913

Total Square Footage: 32107

Religious

Educational

historical building

architecture

Palm Beach County

downtown

wooden building

street photography

urban

city center

city

city view

commercial property

real estate

old Florida

historic Florida

Sunshine State

South Florida

historic landmark

holy building

place of worship

Diocese of Palm Beach

house of prayer

sanctuary

bell tower

donated by Henry M. Flagler

oldest Catholic Church and parish in the Diocese of Palm Beach

Fathers of the Society of Jesus

outreach center that helps homeless men and women by giving them breakfast and lunch

housing assistance

healthcare services

job support assistance

food pantry

substance abuse ministry

hospital ministry

Fish fries

book readings

Soup and the Sunday Scriptures

retreats

Saint Ann Church

stain glass windows

outreach center

St Ann Priest Residence

215 2nd Street

Floors: 3

Built: 1924

Floors: 2

Baths: 3.5

Roof Structure: Gable/Hip

Hardwood

Total Square Footage: 5580

Tony Doris

Palm Beach Post

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