In 2012, Waterloo North Presbyterian Church came to an end of its life cycle and closed. Ownership of their 50% share of the property at 400 Northfields Dr West reverted to their national church body. All Saints’ was given a choice at that time to sell the property and move or purchase the Presbyterian’s share.
All Saints’ entered into a major capital campaign and raised $500 000 but still had to take a $700 000 mortgage to purchase the property in 2014. We have been paying that mortgage ever since and still owe just over $500 000 at the time of the sale of the property.
May 1st 2016, All Saints’ agreed to sever the property and sell 2/3 of the property to Melloul Blamey and relocate the church to the retained lands at the corner of Highpoint and Northfield. The reason for this decision was threefold. One, this would unlock the value of the property and allow All Saints’ to build a maintenance-free facility for the next 20 years and free ourselves from the mortgage so as to be able to concentrate on ministry. Secondly, our current facilities do not meet our needs or the needs of the neighbourhood as determined through our needs assessment matrix. And lastly, the current facility needs app $750 000 in repair. Simply put, the best use of our resources, time, talent and treasure, would be better deployed in a new church build that will allow us to focus on ministry, continued growth and through our common baptism continue to work with our Lord in the building of the kingdom of God.
In 2017, the legal framework of the deal with Melloul Blamey was reached who subcontracted the townhomes development to Aberdeen Homes and we proceeded to work towards satisfying the conditions of sale. Severance (2019) and Zoning change (2018) were granted but unfortunately, Aberdeen homes left the deal in late 2019 before a construction contract and easement agreement could be finalized. This meant Melloul could not complete the deal and it collapsed at the end of 2019.
Where we are now.
From January to July 2020, Pastor Marty met with several developers in an attempt to find new partners but to no avail. The parish examined its options, including investigating building the townhomes ourselves. It was determined that we would place the severed portion of the property for sale to test the market in late 2020.
In February 2021, All Saints’ accepted a generous offer from Cook Homes for the severed portion of the property. The sale was concluded in July 2021. Since that time All Saints’ has contracted with Dickson and Hicks Architects and have retained Frey’s Construction for the building on the new church itself.
Currently, the parish is working through all the necessary steps for site plan submission to the city of Waterloo and finalizing our building designs. We anticipate receiving site plan approval in the fall of 2021 and breaking ground on the new church in early 2022.
The new church and community center opened in November 2023.
We would like to thank those who have contributed to the project.
The Anglican Foundation
United Way Waterloo Region Communites