Uptown Buddhist temple listed as redevelopment opportunity

The high level of construction activity paired with low inventory in desirable neighborhoods has put a squeeze on existing housing stock, but the current market conditions are seeing nonprofit and religious organizations exploring opportunities to sell assets while prices are high. And as churches around the city are looking to cash in on surface parking lots or are proposing partial demolition and redevelopment that would see the creation of new housing units, one more religious property is now in play. The Truc Lam Buddhist Temple in Uptown has hit the commercial market asking $2 million and is being marketed as a redevelopment opportunity.

A brochure accompanying the listing indicates that the two-story temple contains seven bedrooms, and two meeting rooms. The 0.314 acre lot is zoned RS-3, a low-density residential designation. According to the the hyperlocal site Uptown Update, the property back to the 1880s and was originally built as a private residence. The blog says that the building was purchased and expanded by a private social club in the years following its construction. In the 1920s, the property was purchased by Freemasons and renamed the Paul Revere Masonic Temple, Uptown Update reports.

Truc Lam came into the picture ten years ago when the order purchased the building to be used as a Buddhist place of worship. However, the property is now listed as opportunity to either improve upon the existing structure or restart. And while the property has had a long and storied history, it does not appear to have any formal historic protections.

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