Religious sisters partner with developers to repurpose historic spaces while continuing to serve the community, meet sisters' needs
LIVONIA — Two of the largest communities of women religious in the Archdiocese of Detroit are planning major changes in the years ahead to their historic campuses, with an eye toward revitalizing and repurposing seldom-used properties to benefit the local community.
This spring, both the Livonia-based Felician Sisters and the Monroe-based Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary announced progress on redevelopment projects intended to breathe new life into buildings that once housed sisters, transforming them into assets for the common good.
In May, the Felician Sisters of North America announced plans to partner with MHT Housing, Inc., to transform the western portion of its historic convent, which sits next to Madonna University on the sisters’ sprawling, 360-acre Livonia campus, into affordable and market-rate senior housing to benefit the community.
Built in 1936, the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Convent once housed up to 800 sisters during the 1960s, but today is home to fewer than 100 women religious. Like many religious orders around the U.S., the community has grappled in recent years with how best to use its resources and extensive properties — many of which have become expensive to maintain — to continue to serve their mission while remaining committed to the needs of the community, including the sisters who continue to live and serve there.
With west-side suburbs like Livonia home to an increasing percentage of elderly residents — up to 21% of Livonia’s population is 65 or older — the Felician Sisters saw an opportunity to provide another option for the area’s seniors, said provincial vicar Sr. Janet Marie Adamczyk, CSSF.
“The repurposing of the convent is in alignment with the Felician Sisters’ Laudato Si’ Action Plan to use our properties and buildings more creatively for those in need,” Sr. Adamczyk said in a news release May 22. “MHT’s dedication to serving communities and revitalizing neighborhoods aligns with this stance.”
MHT Housing, Inc., a nonprofit developer of affordable housing based in Bingham Farms, has partnered with several Catholic organizations in recent years — including the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit — to transform vacant church and school properties into affordable housing for senior and low-income communities.
Plans for the Livonia convent include approximately 77 one- and two-bedroom units, as well as carports and a community activity space, according to the release. Groundbreaking is pending, with the project expected to be completed by 2027.
The eastern half of the convent will continue to house sisters who live and serve in the community and in the Felicians’ many nearby ministries, including Madonna University, the Montessori Center of Our Lady and St. Mary Child Care Center, Senior Clergy Village, Angela Hospice and Marywood Nursing Home.
This summer, MHT Housing is beginning preliminary work on the project, including environmental surveys, market research, capital needs assessments and site approvals needed to move forward.
“MHT Housing is honored to be partners with the Felician Sisters of North America,” said Van Fox, president, MHT Housing, Inc. “We are passionate to maintain the beauty and elegance of the Blessed Virgin Mary Convent and aspire to create a new purpose for the building — one that the Felician Sisters and the Livonia community will be proud of.”
The Felicians aren’t the only large community of women religious mulling campus changes.
In June, the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary announced it had entered an “option to purchase agreement” with developer KM Cornerstone to begin the possible redevelopment of the historic former St. Mary’s Academy property on the IHM Sisters’ 117-acre campus in Monroe.
The former school building, constructed in 1932, was a fixture in the Monroe community, housing a girls Catholic boarding school until 1987, when the school merged with all-boys Catholic Central High School. Today, St. Mary Catholic Central High School carries on the legacy of both schools in a building just down the street.
From 1987 to 2000, the former St. Mary’s Academy property was converted into a conference and retreat center, as well as offices for community social service agencies. From 2000 to 2003, it was converted into housing and congregational offices for the IHM Sisters during the community’s motherhouse renovations, but has remained vacant since.
In 2019, the property was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
According to the agreement, KM Cornerstone will undergo 24 months of due diligence and planning for a proposed mixed-use redevelopment of the 16-acre property and 260,000-square-foot building, with plans for commercial, office and residential use.
The IHM Sisters have sought for many years to find a partner to redevelop the site, said Sr. Mary Jane Herb, IHM, the community’s president.
“Since 1845, the IHM Sisters have been a faithful presence in the city of Monroe, dedicated to education and serving the community’s needs,” Sr. Herb said in a June 8 news release. “While the IHM presence in the classrooms has changed, the IHM mission has continued beyond educational settings.
“We are delighted about the potential development of St. Mary Academy. This treasure has stood vacant for over 20 years, waiting for the right developer,” Sr. Herb added. “Now, with KM Cornerstone's involvement, the building will be brought back to life, along with various other developments that will benefit the people of Monroe.”
KM Cornerstone is owned by Keith Masserant, a graduate of St. Mary Catholic Central, who said he is “deeply honored” to be part of rehabbing the historic landmark.
"As a seventh-generation resident of Newport and a graduate of the Hall of the Divine Child and St. Mary's Catholic Central, I have a deeply personal appreciation for what the St. Mary's Academy campus means to our community,” Masserant said. “Even after all these years, it still stands as a crown gem in our community. I'm blessed to be able to have a role in breathing new life into this property in a way that will benefit generations to come just as it did for so many of those individuals and families who walked those halls before us.”
The project is being undertaken in consultation with the city of Monroe and the Community Foundation of Monroe County to strategize on a path forward for the IHM Sisters’ historic campus, which, like the Felicians' campus in Livonia, has undergone significant changes in recent decades.
During the community’s heyday in the 1960s, the IHM Sisters had more than 1,400 sisters living and serving in education, health care, social work and other ministries in southeast Michigan and in Pennsylvania. As of 2023, approximately 200 sisters remain at the Monroe campus, but much of the infrastructure remains.
Last year, the IHM Sisters transferred ownership of their motherhouse and senior living facilities to Minnesota-based Saint Therese Senior Communities, which assumed care of the lay and religious women in residence at the campus.
The change allows the IHM Sisters to free up resources to continue to focus on their other vital ministries in the community, Sr. Herb said at the time.
“It is unique in that all of our sisters are guaranteed the level of care needed for as long as we need it,” Sr. Herb told Detroit Catholic in August 2023. “I think in five years to come, we won’t be financially supporting the senior facility any longer, so that will help us to care for sisters as they retire and also support our sisters in ministry.”
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