BEL-NOR • A community’s push to save a historic convent at the edge of University of Missouri-ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½â€™ campus has failed, as the school announced Tuesday the building will be demolished this year and turned into green space.
UMSL’s plan to demolish Incarnate Word Convent comes as the university grapples with roughly $300 million in deferred maintenance and other repairs spread out across 38 different campus buildings.
The university estimates it would cost $11 million to renovate the old Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word convent and the attached residential space, St. Agnes Hall.
Built in the 1920s, the convent is from an era when becoming a nun was more common. The number of sisters dwindled, and the building was sold to UMSL in 1993 for $1.2 million.
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Over the years, UMSL has used the building for campus housing, the honors college and office space, before it was ultimately left vacant.
In recent years, as the university’s maintenance issues have multiplied, campus leaders began floating the idea of demolishing the property, at an estimated cost of $1 million.
The idea was met with criticism from nearby residents who started an online petition calling the convent “an excellent example of American craftsmanship, masonry and metalwork from the early 20th century with architectural characteristics from 11th and 12th century southern France, Spain and Italy.â€
In response to the outcry, the university in November invited outside parties to come up with a plan to buy and preserve the property, provided the plan did not require the university to spend any money.
University spokesman Bob Samples said Tuesday that UMSL received only one response.
“It didn’t meet the financial parameters that we’d set out,†Samples said.
With annual costs to maintain the property running about $150,000, the university is set to demolish the convent later this year.
