Local media company brings new purpose to an old church

Posted at: 10/17/2012 4:24 PM | Updated at: 10/17/2012 5:55 PM
By: John McLoughlin

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ALBANY - The new home of a media company in Uptown Albany is the building of a former Roman Catholic Church.

Wednesday’s Grand Opening of the media company’s new home marks the successful re-use of one of the many such houses of worship.

This is one of nearly 50 worship sites that have been sold by the Albany Catholic Diocese over the past 10 years, and this one has provoked no controversy, only praise

With the cutting of a ribbon the Old Saint Theresa of Avila Church on New Scotland Avenue

The building became the official headquarters for "Overit” a multi-media company

The company bought the church for $200,000 from the Diocese and then spent another $500,000 converting the building into a worksite for its 36 employees.

Daniel Dinsmore, President and CEO of Overit said, "We do a lot of web development for a whole lot of companies so that they can get seen better; for instance, we have done work for Nickelodeon and for Donald Trump..."

Mayor Jerry Jennings said, "The doors of Saint Theresa's closed two years ago and when a church closes, it's often difficult to find a re-use for the property..."

Saint Joseph's Church in Arbor hill, and Saint John's in the City's South end both were sold years ago by the Diocese, and both buildings are still in search of a clear purpose.

In recent months, there has been major controversy over Saint Patrick's in Watervliet, and whether to tear it down to make way for a supermarket.

The Diocese is awaiting a zoning change.

A spokesman says that in the past 10 years, since 2002, the Catholic Diocese has sold 49 churches or worship sites, as they call them, the majority of them, thirty-two in number, have been sold to other religious groups or for residential use.

Also, the city gave Overit a loan of 75,000 toward the church rehab which is a small price, according to the Mayor, for rescuing Saint Theresa's

 

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