Rezoning to allow Sacred Heart church bells to ring again in 2024

ROSEVILLE — The bells in the tower of the former Sacred Heart Catholic Church will ring again in 2024, even though the building beneath them will serve a different purpose.

At the Sept. 26 meeting of the Roseville City Council, council members approved the rezoning of three properties near the intersection of Gratiot Avenue and Utica Road to allow for the development of a storage facility.

The properties include the former Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Christian Financial Credit Union and a vacant lot.

The storage facility, which will be known as MySpace Roseville, will allow for indoor self-storage units and enclosed outdoor storage.

Since being closed in 2017, the church has become the site of frequent break-ins and other forms of vandalism, City Attorney Tim Tomlinson said at the meeting.

“The reality of it is (that) this is a property that’s been sitting vacant for quite some time, and it’s been a site for vagrants and stuff like that trying to get into the building,” he said.

When the plans were originally presented in 2020, they received “broad community support” and all necessary approvals, according to the agenda item. However, council members were concerned about preserving the architecture of the church.

Tomlinson said the most recent plans helped address the council’s previous concerns.

“This is a little bit more aggressive from the standpoint of trying to save even more of the church infrastructure, the bell tower and things of that nature that were such a contentious issue last time around,” he said.

Tomlinson also stated he felt there had been a “good-faith effort” from the developers to help address concerns from neighbors.

Dennis Cowan, an attorney from Bloomfield Hills-based law firm Plunkett Cooney, who represents the developer, said every effort has been made to preserve the original architecture of the church. He said that attempting to reuse the existing buildings instead of building new also opened the opportunity for MySpace to expand the plans into the former Christian Financial Credit Union.

“As has been pointed out by the city attorney, by using the buildings, we’re able to preserve what I know is a great piece of architectural heritage with the church,” Cowan said.

The most recent proposal was submitted in July of this year and included the former credit union. Additionally, the plan includes administrative offices and retail uses.

City Councilman Bill Shoemaker, who said he was a longtime member of the church, said he was glad to see the original buildings be reused. However, he questioned how the developers would be able to work with such a small space.

“We’re pretty aware of what you’re doing here. … I’m pretty familiar with the church. It doesn’t seem like a lot of room for (the business) to work in,” he said.

Gary Gerrits, vice president of development for MySpace, said they had a number of self-storage facilities that also housed retail space. He cited several other facilities, including one in Lansing that had a Family Dollar store in it.

“We do understand that there’s not a tremendous amount of space between the front wall of the church and the city sidewalk on Gratiot Avenue, but we have utilized the skills of our architects to actually plan a space that does make some sense,” he said.

The plan will redevelop the existing structures for a self-storage facility, and additional construction will allow for more self-storage units and a retail area that is approximately 6,250 square feet in size. Gerrits said they were considering adding a brew pub into the retail space, which would have outdoor patios and take approximately 4,000 square feet. The other 2,000 square feet would be left for a retail business.

“(Our retail broker) says that’s kind of the sweet spot, anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 square feet for a retailer. … There’s no (big box stores) left anymore and the smaller guys can’t deal with all the traffic that’s right on Gratiot Avenue coming by at 45 miles per hour,” he said.

A public hearing was held, during which no members of the audience spoke. The hearing was followed by motions to approve the rezoning of the three parcels, each of which was unanimously approved by council.

Roseville Mayor Robert Taylor concluded the public hearing by asking if the church bells will ring again, stating that they are a Roseville landmark.

“When you come to Roseville driving down Utica Road from 12 Mile, you see the bell tower,” he said. “It’s a big part of Roseville.”

Gerrits responded by saying the bells will ring again.

“We intend to get the bells ringing again, yes sir,” he said.

Work is expected to begin this spring and be complete around November of next year.