It was the perfect match.
The old Canadian Reformed Church building on the corner of 47 Street and 52 Avenue needed a new owner and Rick Hofsink needed a new project. So when the Canadian Reformed Church put the building up for sale Hofsink knew he wanted to buy it to create residential housing.
The Barrhead-based developer is currently in the process of turning the former church into an affordable housing complex of three complete separate title units in a triplex.
“I have always been interested in restoring old buildings and repurposing them for different uses,” he told the Barrhead Leader during a tour of the Old Church Apartments, adding it is something he has done in one way or another all his life.
Hofsink, who is originally from the Netherlands immigrating to Canada about 18 years ago, has worked in construction in one form or another all of his life.
Due to the limited open space and the historic nature of many of the buildings in the Netherlands, it is commonplace for developers to repurpose old building instead of knocking them down and starting from scratch.
Hofsink’s first repurposing project after moving to Canada was in Neerlandia where he bought an old 1938 farmhouse.
“We (Hofsink and his wife) used to have a restaurant there, so after we bought the house we moved in behind our restaurant and opened a bed and breakfast,” he said, adding the couple restored the house using as much of the original materials in order to keep the same feel and style.
It is something he is trying to do with his current project as well, to a point.
“The new suites will have a lot of modern or trendy elements in them, but I have tried to incorporate as much of the original building as possible.”
For example, Hofsink was able to use all the old church windows including them into the design of the building. Although he notes he did upgrade the trim.
“It was a bit of a challenge to keep as much of the original building as possible and still have the same square footage and features,” he said.
For example, all the units, have three levels and are 1,600 square feet. On the main level there is a kitchen, dining area and a common area, as well as a three-piece bathroom. In the loft (formerly the church’s balcony) there is a bedroom along with a common area. In the basement (formerly the nursery and Sunday school rooms) there is another bedroom, complete bathroom and the mechanical room and space for laundry facilities.
But that is where the similarity ends. Because Hofsink wanted to keep as much old integrity the layout and the look of the rooms are different in each unit.
He also noted that one of the units is handicapped accessible, saying all the doorways, bathrooms and other fixtures will be built so people in wheelchairs can more easily access them. People with mobility issues will also be able to access all three floors thanks to an upgraded version of the church’s elevator system.
From the outside of the building, Hofsink said the building will look much as it did before. Due to changes in the building code from when the building was built the addition of a few more windows was required. A wraparound deck, which when completed will include privacy walls, so every unit will have it’s own separate deck. Another feature of the deck is that it will include a number of the church’s original pews, which Hofsink has restored.
However, the two outdoor features that Hofsink is most proud of are that the church’s cross has been retained and the name, ‘The Old Church Apartments,’ which he has proudly painted on the side.
“As soon as I saw the church was up for sale I knew what the name was going to be,” he said.
The Old Church Apartments project will be completed in late October. The price of each of the units is expected to be about $180,000.
“Besides creating a multi-unit dwelling out of a church, which I just think is cool, I wanted to them to be affordable,” he said.
As for if Hofsink has any other unique building projects on the go, he said, not yet, but if an old grain elevator became available, he has some ideas.
