The Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi will replace the Marian Center for Nonprofits in St. Francis, which closed this summer, with a new convent.
The Marian Center for Nonprofits was a two-building campus of rented office space for social justice organizations, artists and community groups at 3195 South Superior Street. The buildings are more than 100 years old and had become costly to maintain in recent years, prompting the Sisters to close the facility on July 1.
A statement released by the Sisters on Nov. 3, said the religious order plans to build a convent to house 80 nuns and some office space on the current site of the Marian Center. The new convent is being designed by Milwaukee-based Groth Design Group.
Although architectural drawings and specific plans for the new convent are not yet available, Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi spokesperson Jean Merry said the group is planning to maintain certain architectural elements of the current buildings, including some facade elements, a large sculpture, a chapel and the main building’s steeple.
Once it is completed, around 40 nuns who currently live in the Motherhouse building on the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi convent campus on South Lake Drive, which was built in the 1800s, will move into the new facility.
“After more than five years of working with consultants and studying the options, it was clear that it is neither practical nor economically viable to continue using the century-old Marian Center structure,” the statement reads. “In reviewing the current Motherhouse condition, it was also determined that this 1800s building is no longer suitable as a convent for the sisters who currently make it their home. Approximately 40 sisters presently live in small rooms, inadequate for elder care, on the third and fourth floors. This structure, which no longer meets the basic health and safety needs of the aging sisters, is also facing mounting maintenance costs.”
A start date for construction has not been set.
