Aerial view shows the vacant apartment building, since
demolished, which sits on property that is now overflow
parking. Lawton Street runs between the property and the
seminary main campus. The street will be closed, secured,
and lead to the new main entrance to the campus.
EXPANDING OUR
“FOOTPRINT”
Blessing of vacant land begins major expansion of campus.
T
he holy water sprinkled by Archbishop Allen Vigneron mingled with the rain drops.
Despite the stormy weather, the formal blessing by the archbishop initiating Sacred
Heart’s property expansion project went on as planned, on Thursday afternoon, April 20.
The blessing site was under a tent set up
on Longfellow Street, which cuts across a 2.5
acre section of a city block. The seminary
purchased the abandoned section from the
City of Detroit in May 2016 with the inten-
tion of expanding its campus footprint. A
significant donation from a generous bene-
factor was used to finance the purchase.
Graciously attending the property bless-
ing ceremony were City of Detroit adminis-
trators Vicky Kovari and Arthur Jamison,
representing Mayor Michael Duggan;
Bishop Shedrick Clark and Elder Shed-
rick Clark Jr. from nearby Clinton Street
Greater Bethlehem Temple Church; and
representatives from the Boston-Edison
Historic District Association.
Joining them were priests and deacons
from throughout the archdiocese, along
with seminarians, lay students, and Sacred
Heart staff and faculty members, most of
them standing under umbrellas.
The property expansion ‘will have a direct and
positive impact on how we carry out our mission.’
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Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Fall 2017
NEW ENTRANCE
The six plots of land that make up the
purchase site are directly west of the semi-
nary, bordered by Chicago Boulevard to
the north, Detroit Public Schools property
to the south, Lawton Street to the east, and
Genesee Street to the west. The block had
contained a long-vacant, three-building
apartment complex built in the late 1930s—
since demolished on April 26—and trees,
weeds, and scrub grass growing helter-skelter.
Since the property blessing, the land
has been cleared and the buildings’ de-
bris hauled away. In place of the deserted
streetscape, now there is an overflow park-
ing area. Spaces for up to four hundred