TheBurg

12 | theburgnews.com | 12.19 T he neoclassical lintel carved "INDVSTRY" guards a door covered in peeling plywood. Inside, "AMOS" spray-painted his name on an unbroken windowpane. Outside, "L," "D" and "M" painted their initials on the columns. e fire extinguisher lying in the grass adds a touch of irony, given the Harrisburg Fire Bureau's growing familiarity with the vacant hulk once known as William Penn High School. Harrisburg isn't the only city struggling with obsolete institutional properties for sale, but a sudden flood of churches has further saturated the market. Can outdated people-gathering places be revived? Proponents hope the right alignment of creative ideas and hefty funding brings new life to old icons. hIstorY sPAreD Once, they anchored neighborhoods and hummed with activity. Now, William Penn High School is covered in vines. Choirs aren't singing at Camp Curtin Memorial-Mitchell United Methodist Church and others closed by the Susquehanna United Methodist Conference. Zembo Shrine is active but back on the market after a sale fell through. Bishop McDevitt High School has a new owner, but its status is unclear. Bill Gladstone of the Bill Gladstone Group of NAI CIR is marketing six of the Methodist churches, among the many faith-based buildings crowding the real estate listings. Smaller churches tend to sell quickly, he said. "Everybody's starting new congregations," Gladstone said. "ey want to move out of the Holiday Inn." But not selling are "the bigger churches with no parking." Many suffer from long-deferred maintenance. Inquiries trickle in, only to confront zoning and parking issues. One woman wanted to paint a church white and "attract thousands of people to come to arts events." Some ideas "will work," said Gladstone, "and some won't." e vast, ornate, non-ADA compliant Zembo Shrine attracted investors who saw an ideal entertainment venue—until they uncovered challenges in booking shows, Gladstone said. "We've had activity," he said. "We haven't found quite the right buyer for it yet." Historic Harrisburg Association helped keep the doors open at historic Grace Church on State Street and is "trying to help find sympathetic buyers, at least for the churches that have history and architectural attributes," says Executive Director David Morrison. Gamut eatre in the former First Church of God and State Street Academy of Music in the former St. Lawrence Chapel demonstrate that repurposing institutions FoR sale Your childhood school, your family church—going once, going twice. m. DIAne mccormIcK Zembo Shrine

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