Catholic Real Estate Vision

"Creatively thinking about our properties and how we can better utilize them to further the mission of the Church is exactly what we need to do."

~ Archbishop Paul D. Etienne

Catholic Real Estate Initiative

The Catholic real estate vision aims to better serve communities and the mission of the Church by redeveloping underutilized properties for mission-critical uses such as community outreach, housing and ministry services.

The CREI is a collaboration between the Archdiocese, parishes, schools, Catholic Community Services (CCS) and Catholic Housing Services (CHS) to evaluate church-owned properties and determine potential sites to help implement this vision.  

Chancery Place Apartments

Recent Projects

Innovative Housing Program

The Innovative Housing Program builds leadership capacity for our schools, parishes, and ministry programs by bringing new life to underutilized spaces. Specifically, it helps recruit and retain young professionals in areas with high costs of living, while providing parishes with young professional engagement. For its first year, this project is focused on affordable housing and intentional community for Catholic School teachers within the first five years of their career.

To learn more or apply for housing click here.

Innovative-Housing-Project-LOGO

First Hill Sustainable Redevelopment

The Archdiocese of Seattle and St. James Cathedral announced plans to sell and redevelop four properties on First Hill with Westbank, a global developer recognized for its long-term commitment to sustainable building. The vision is to create an inspiring carbon-neutral community that enhances the future of the First Hill neighborhood, while also supporting the continued mission of the Catholic Church.

Read the press release or visit the Westbank Common Good website to learn more about this project.

Water color rendering of the First Hill redevelopment with Westbank and Creative Energy

O'Dea High School and St. Paul Parish

O'Dea High School is in contract to purchase the field at St. Paul Parish in Seattle. The St. Paul field suffered a landslide in 2017. While the slope was stabilized, the field has been unusable ever since. Meanwhile, O’Dea’s leadership determined that acquiring its own field was in the school’s best interest. Read more about this story. 

Rending of O'Dea Field

A History of Working Together

Guadalupe Vista

The CREI effort builds on prior successful collaborations of church-owned property, where the Archdiocese and parishes worked directly with CCS and CHS to develop new uses for the properties. Successful past collaborations include:

  • Chancery Apartments - Seattle
  • Franciscan Apartments - Burien
  • Elbert House - Bellevue
  • Josephinum - Seattle
  • Matsusaka Townhomes - Tacoma
  • Frederic Ozanam House - Seattle
  • Martha's Place - Skagit Valley