St. Joseph's Church To Become Tech Offices

Office workers could inhabit a sacred space if plans to redevelop a SoMa church into offices is approved.

Plenty folks worship at the altar of the dollar. But stained glass at the office?

Yes indeed, if your start-up is one of the lucky firms to inhabit the former St. Joseph's Church in San Francisco's South of Market.

The 99-year old church has been empty since 1989, when the Loma Prieta earthquake made the building at 10th and Howard streets seismically unsound. In that time, it's been a neighborhood eyesore as well as a home for transients and drug addicts, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

A real estate investment firm called the Polaris Group bought the property three years ago, and new owner Chris Foley hopes to have the first plans for 21,000 square feet of office spaces and a 1,000-square foot cafe approved by a City Hall commission today.

The stained glass windows would stay. The altar's already gone, and other artifacts like the pipe organ would be donated. The bathrooms would be installed in what is now the chapel. Ahem.

Work could begin in July, with the first tenants moving in by 2013 if the city approves the plan, according to the newspaper.

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