Long-time residents of Syracuse’s north side reflected on their memories of the nearly 130-year-old former Maria Regina convent heavily damaged by a fire on March 21.
The city has ordered an emergency demolition of the building. Drone footage shows the four-story building presents an immediate safety risk to the public, and what remains poses a threat to first responders if there were another emergency. Last week, Deputy Commissioner of Code enforcement Jake Dishaw said the building was structurally sound before the fire and water damage.
“It's sad. It was a beautiful building," Dishaw said. "A vacant building is so hard for us to protect and maintain, even with all the resources we've poured into trying to keep this protected. And even with all of that, we've reached this point today.”
Mayor Ben Walsh said it’s a personal loss for many.
“We understand that this property holds a special place in a lot of people's hearts, including my own," Walsh said. "My mother went to college here. I brought my youngest daughter to daycare here. We know that people care about the property.”
Common councilor Marty Nave has called the north side home his entire life. He remembers attending religious instruction classes on the campus in 7th grade, though the classes were not in the convent.
“You looked at it from a child's perspective, that's where the nuns live,” Nave said. “That's where there's a lot of prayers going on and you would see that gate. You always wonder what went on there. Your mind would travel.”
Nave said the convent was part of the religious fabric of the north side.
“It was very rich in the tradition of our Catholic faith and of the nuns,” Nave said. “It influenced so many people growing up on the north side, whether they attended Saint John the Baptist, Holy Trinity or Our Lady of Pompei.”
Nave said he was always worried about something like a devastating fire. Vandals and squatters have been in and out of the building since it became vacant over a decade ago.
Commissioner of Neighborhood and Business Development Michael Collins said he expects owner Mark Congel to apply for a permit this week, and demolition could start soon. Collins said Congel will bear the cost and use his own contractors.
Collins said it will be up to new owner Home Leasing to decide how to move forward with the redevelopment of the site into senior housing without the former motherhouse.
“It's too early to say, ‘Hey, we'll build something else there or that might be a future project,’” Collins said. “I suspect where we'll end up is, at least initially, moving forward simply without the 26 units that were planned for that property.”
That leaves another 154 units proposed for the rest of the campus. Collins says the sale of the property should be complete by this fall.
Police and fire investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the “suspicious” fire.