Losing no time, the soon-to-be owners of 5-10 St George Street, in Boston’s South End, were at the South End Landmarks Commission, earlier this evening (this sentence brought to you by the comma).

The property is better known by the name emblazoned on a cross on its front – Jesus Saves!

It is currently home to the Bethel Tabernacle Pentecostal Church, which is relocating.

According to the MLS listing, the property consists of church building and adjacent classroom annex, on an 11,000 square foot lot.

While I’m sure the new owners thought long and hard about keeping it as a place of worship, they have apparently decided to turn it into condominiums, instead.

The proposal presented before the commission was to tear down the existing buildings and replace them with a six-story condominium project.

(It wasn’t actually a “proposal”, it was an advisory hearing to get feedback from the commission.)

The board was pretty much impressed and happy with the proposal.

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime,” said one member.

I have to agree, totally.

The buildings overlook historic Franklin Square. Historic as in, it was here before Boston was Boston. Which you can’t say about too many places in downtown Boston. The majority of the downtown area is landfill, circa 1850 – 1900. The Back Bay, the South End.

Not Franklin Square. It, and neighboring Blackstone Square, are “original” land. People had to travel across the “neck” near there from Roxbury into Boston (this type of geography is known as an isthmus.

The developer / owner had a mock-up of the new building. It is modern in design, which I’m kind of ambivalent about, but, to his credit, it does match the style and design of nearby buildings. This area of the South End is not very “historic”. You have the “St Elsewhere” building on one side, the Art Block and 700 Harrison behind it, and low-income housing (projects) on the other side. Certainly not a location that needs typical Victorian-style structures.

Anyway, the Landmarks Commission decided they needed to see the interior of the building in order to decide if it needed to be saved. Ugh!.

The real estate deal is scheduled to close on December 11th. Hopefully, the developer will get approval to demolish the structures, soon thereafter. Once the neighborhood gives its nod of approval, they can begun construction. I hope.