High-end apartments in the former First Baptist Church on Seventh Street North will be move-in ready by February, with more developments still to come.
Developer Vince Rapisarda said most of the apartments in the 195-year-old church, now known as Seventh Street Centre, are likely to be leased before construction is even complete, with about a dozen people having already expressed interest.
“You take a historical building and put all the modern amenities in it, (and) I think that people love it,” Rapisarda told The Dispatch on Tuesday. “… I’m excited. We’re going to start doing what I told the city we would do. It’s moving right along.”
The city approved Rapisarda’s plans to convert the 81,000 square-foot building into a multi-use complex in May, nearly three years after he purchased the property with his business partner Scott Wagner. Along with the apartment complex and an adjoining gym, both of which will occupy the church’s former day care space, Rapisarda plans to add an outdoor recreational space, modernize the sanctuary and revamp the first floor.
The apartment complex will be named “Lofts at Seventh Street Centre” and will consist of 15 fully-furnished, one-bedroom corporate apartments, the shells of which are already in place while electrical and plumbing work is ongoing. The apartments are already being “loosely marketed” on Zillow and Hometown Realty’s website for $1,600 per month, Realtor Jody Davis told The Dispatch.
Davis, who will manage the apartments, said the units are targeted for young professionals who want to live downtown.
“The interesting thing is, in downtown Columbus, there is a huge need for living space,” Davis said. “In fact, a lot of people that I know are at 100% occupancy in downtown Columbus for apartments. So there is a huge demand for people looking to live, work and play in downtown Columbus, and we’re hoping to kind of serve that need in the market with this development here.”
The outdoor recreational space, which will include a pickleball court, as well as barbecue and seating areas, will be installed once the interior of the apartments are complete.
While work on the apartments is wrapping up, renovations to the building’s sanctuary began Monday with the installation of a new roof.
Since it was purchased in 2022, the building’s sanctuary has been used as a venue for weddings, funerals and other services. It also houses two additional event rooms that stay in demand, as well as office spaces that churches and businesses rent.
Rapisarda said renovations will leave the sanctuary mainly untouched, while modernizing some of its aspects to attract more entertainment business to the venue.
“We’re looking at upgrading the sound, lighting, everything else on the interior, so we can get more functions in there,” he said. “… I’ve had a lot of interest (from) a company out of Atlanta that would like to do a lot more since we can seat 900 people in there. I don’t think there’s another venue in town that can seat that many people. Obviously the stained glass, the pews, that part of it will stay the same. … I want to leave the feel of the sanctuary, but modernize it.”
Those renovations should wrap up within about six months, Rapisarda said.
Future developments
Rapisarda said designs have already begun for a second phase of apartments to be housed in the main building. The complex will include 12 corporate apartments, most of which will be one-bedroom apartments slightly larger than those included in the first phase.
However, Rapisarda said with additional developments in the works, there’s no hard timeline set for when those units will come online.
“I’m working on two different projects,” Rapisarda said. “I’m not sure which one I’m going to tackle next. They’re both at this property, but I don’t want to tell you about the other one right now. I’ll know more in the next couple of weeks on which route we’re going.”
Plans to convert the first floor, which currently houses the kitchen, into a restaurant or cafe have been placed on hold, at least until the apartments are complete.
“This is a great building,” he said. “… There’s a lot we want to do with it. It’s just got to be done in phases.”
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