It seems like the ones converted to lofts are bring in some good rent due to the architectural novelty. I think some people would like living in a converted church more than a modern building. Enough to pay a little extra.
No it wasn't. The mansion was built by a wealthy cattle rancher. The mistress of the house used to allow the local church to use some of their acreage for church functions and picnics. Never the inside of the home.
Could make 3 or 4 good size apartments in a ward building (maybe more) and keep the gym for recreation. The Relief Society room could become the laundry room.
...well, you could turn the abandoned or derelict LDS Churches into homeless shelters, and probably still maintain the tax-exempt status as a charitable 501(c)(3). Then, have the homeless tenants pay a very modest fee; (10%) of their daily panhandling take. Actually, the Church would probably take in more money this way.....
A relative of mine bought an old church building in rural Utah, and lived there with his 10 children. I remember it was always very cold and dimly-lit in there. That family never had enough money to live, and I'm not sure how they afforded the church, or maybe he was the care-taker for the property. They took a lot from welfare. The mother loved the big kitchen. The kids enjoyed the basketball court. There were plenty of bathroom stalls, but we didn't dare ask if they used the baptismal font as a bathtub.
The daughters all learned to play the pipe organ. They also had a piano. When the roof needed major repairs, they left the building, and moved to Missouri. (True story) Maybe they never really owned it in the first place. It ended up being torn down.
I agree that they should be torn down.
Get rid of all the asphalt, plant trees and shrubs, and turn them into dog parks.
If you are going to buy a church make sure it is a Catholic or mormon building. Protestants are too cheap with their building materials. If you are going to buy a protestant building hopefully it was one built over a century ago.
...hey! They could all be turned into "Lazer Tag Centers!" Yeah!......that would be great!!............oh....Lazer Tag is as outdated as the Church building itself.....sorry. Maybe Bass Pro Shops, Asian nail spas, opera houses, or indoor food courts (Hot Dog on a Stick, We Buy Gold, cell phone kiosks). Hey, we gotta' do something to prevent abandonment and blight in our communities!
This article gives very few examples of actual repurposed church buildings. And yet they are a dime a dozen. The writers should just have googled for it and they would have found hundreds of beautiful examples to follow from Europe and Latin America.
I myself have seen churches, from big cathedral-like buildings down to small village chapels, being turned into B&Bs, restaurants, bookshops, discotheques, swimming pools, gay saunas, sports clubs, bus shelters, flower shops, government offices, tourist offices, law offices, housing, public toilets and indoor parking for bicycles. The possibilities are endless.
There's one just round the corner from my workplace that has been transformed into luxury condos. I've also seen one in NYC repurposed as a music venue or club or something like that.