City churches are closing because they can't afford earthquake retrofitting

From the Chronicle's Surreal Estate column, "Golden Gate Lutheran Church is only one of over 25 places of worship and an estimated 2,500 buildings around the city that have been affected by new seismic codes for unreinforced masonry buildings. In the years since the unreinforced masonry building code was written in 1992 (generally referred to as the UMB code), most of these buildings have been brought up to code or demolished."

"But an estimated 300 buildings -- including several churches and synagogues -- remain noncompliant. Feb. 15 was the deadline for bringing all buildings in San Francisco into compliance, so the city is stepping up its efforts, after granting repeated extensions to property owners."

"Like many other churches in the city, Golden Gate Lutheran operated under the UMB radar, limiting its hours of operation. But last year, it came under the inspector's spotlight when a local neighborhood group -- which had complained about the homeless people hanging around the church -- discovered the building was not up to code and reported it."

"Estimates to seismically retrofit other bigger buildings have been even more exorbitant. The figure of $8 million was the one most invoked in discussions about the retrofitting of Sacred Heart Church on Fell Street. Last year, an article about the shaky fate of Congregation Sherith Israel on California Street suggested that retrofit costs could run as high as $20 million."

"The churches that cannot be brought up to code face an uncertain future. St. Brigid's Church, which was closed for nearly a decade, was recently purchased by the Academy of Art University, adding to its sizeable for-profit real estate portfolio. The Church of Christian Science on Dolores Street has petitioned for a demolition and permit to build an 8-unit condo building."