Developer buys city church

NashuaTelegraph.com (Nashua, New Hampshire)
April 13, 2007

By Albert McKeon, Telegraph Staff

NASHUA – After waiting more than two years to clear legal challenges and
receive necessary religious blessings, a real estate developer has
purchased St. Francis Xavier Church, a building widely viewed as the
architectural jewel of the French Hill neighborhood.

The $1 million sale, finalized in December, officially ends more than a
century of ownership by the Roman Catholic Church. The deal clears the
way for developer Vatche Manoukian to donate the Chandler Street
property to the Armenian Orthodox Church, his attorney Andrew Prolman
said Thursday.

But Manoukian has to wait a year, until Dec. 22, to bequeath the church
to the leaders of his faith, Prolman said. The Internal Revenue Service
requires a year of ownership before Manoukian can transfer the property
as a donation, Prolman said.

`It’s in a holding pattern right now,’ Prolman said. `It’s for tax
purposes, and it also allows the Armenian Orthodox Church to get a
business plan together.’

The sale shouldn’t surprise anyone who has observed the multilayered
deliberations over the towering Norman basilica-style building.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester closed the church in 2003,
citing a dwindling parishioner base, low tithing and the nationwide
clergy shortage. A large group of parishioners initially protested the
shuttering, but it soondiminished in size, with only a small handful of
them in the end.

While the group – known formally as the St. Francis Xavier Church
Foundation – took its protest to court, the Catholic diocese and
Manoukian entered a purchase-and-sales agreement in May 2004. The
parties had tried to conceal Manoukian’s identity on the document, but a
black marker didn’t entirely block off his name.

Manoukian, a landlord and developer, had to wait for the Hillsborough
County Superior Court to resolve the dispute between the diocese and
protesters. The group argued parishioners – and not the diocese – owned
the building because it was their predecessors, French-Canadian
immigrant mill workers, who funded its construction by saving their
nickels and dimes.

The state Supreme Court declined to hear the case in February 2006,
giving Manoukian the green light to buy the property.

But then he had to obtain blessings from three leaders of the Armenian
Orthodox Church, Prolman said. Eventually, the Armenian Orthodox
Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the head of the church in Armenia and the
leader of the Eastern Diocese of America all came on board, he said.

In eventually donating the church, Manoukian has identified a
parishioner base that will make the building a vibrant place of worship,
Prolman said.

Manoukian is the controlling principal of Mile High Real Estate. He has
declined to comment on the transaction for more than two years and
didn’t return a phone call Thursday. Prolman said Manoukian prefers not
to speak publicly about the sale.

The Chandler Street property is assessed at $1.6 million. The purchase
included the church building, an adjacent rectory that had long ago held
classes, a garage, and a parking lot used by BAE Systems, Prolman said.

When the Catholic diocese deliberated the future of the church earlier
in the decade, estimates on repairing the roof and Vermont-marble
exterior walls – both diminished by harsh winters – started at $1.5 million.

Manoukian has allowed a Latino Christian group to meet in the church
basement for some time, Prolman said.

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