TACOMA — For more than 125 years, Mason United Methodist Church has served a prominent role in North Tacoma’s Proctor neighborhood. Now, facing an economic shortfall coupled with a dwindling and aging congregation, its pastor has ambitious plans to raze the building and construct a mixed-use housing and community center in its place.
A block away from the vibrant Proctor shopping corridor at 2710 N. Madison St., a once-busy church is slowly dying, with the average congregant’s age being 80, the Rev. Susan Boegli told The News Tribune this week.
The church expects to run out of money in about six years, Boegli said. Rather than sell the 1.74-acre site to a market-rate housing developer, Boegli said she wants to build a new space there that embodies her faith’s mission of social justice and addresses community needs like housing and child care.
Although the final design is subject to change and dependent on funding, the plan is to raze the 1959 building and develop between 100-150 apartments of mixed-income housing, with an emphasis on affordability. Indoor and outdoor community spaces, a labyrinth, a food bank, office space and a place for multi-faith spiritual and meditative practices also are being considered, as is an affordable child-care center, an arts venue and retail space, Boegli said. The parsonage in the back would remain, and the stained-glass windows in the chapel would be incorporated into the new space, she said.
Proposals for an affordable housing developer are due April 12. Once a developer is chosen, the church would hire a professional to develop a fundraising campaign, Boegli said. After several years of fundraising, Boegli said, she expects the shovels would go into the ground and the rebuild would begin.
The Mason Development Project is expected to cost $85 million, according to Boegli. The bulk of funding would come from tax credits, grants, philanthropy and fundraising efforts, she said. Local businesses, government agencies and nonprofits might lease the space in the future, which would reduce the overall cost, Boegli said. Anyone interested in getting involved with the project or fundraising efforts can contact Boegli directly, she said.
Support for the project is front and center of Proctor’s Neighborhood Plan, which explicitly calls for more affordable housing, child-care centers, community gathering space and green space, Stephen Antupit told The News Tribune Tuesday. Antupit works for the city to support the visioning and implementation of long-range neighborhood planning.
“All those things fit together really nicely. It’s kind of an aligning of the stars with the church location. … We’ll see what happens as they get further into understanding what’s feasible to do with the property,” Antupit said. “I think one of the most exciting things about this project is that it’s in a location that hasn’t had the opportunity to support lower income workforce housing.”
The North End needs more housing that’s affordable for the people who work in that neighborhood, said Michael Mirra, who served as executive director of the Tacoma Housing Authority for 17 years and is a member of the Mason Development Project Steering Committee.
Making those investments would strengthen the economic and racial diversity of the area, he said. There are not too many parcels of about 1.75 acres in size in the North End that are available for such purposes, Mirra added.
‘Do or die’
Founded in 1898, Mason Church has been facing challenges with a dwindling and aging congregation for years, Boegli said. About 45 people attend worship on Sundays, but at one time that number exceeded 200, Boegli said.
“The truth be told, the model of the church that exists right now … is obsolete,” Boegli said. “Myself, you know, I didn’t come into this Christianity thing until my 30s. I’ve got one foot in the secular world and one foot in the sacred world, and it’s clear as day to me that this model is gone.”
