After years of fundraising activities and deliberations with Lincolnshire officials, Ascension of Our Lord Greek Orthodox Church in the village is about to start building a $7.4 million expansion.
Members of the church, 1207 Riverwoods Road, marked the project’s upcoming groundbreaking with a site-blessing ceremony following the church’s service Sunday, said Rev. Sotirios Malamis.
When the multi-million-dollar project is finished, the new building addition will house a worship hall capable of accommodating 420 people, classrooms, a “commercial-sized” kitchen, offices and more, he said. The extra space is needed to make room for activities at the church after the number of members grew to 320 recently, he said.
“It’s too small for us to function comfortably,” Malamis said. “We’re ready to get going.”
The 15-year-old church in Lincolnshire started planning for the building expansion in 2005, when it purchased and demolished a house that had stood immediately north of its current building.
The church first approached village officials in 2008 with the idea of building two buildings. Following several rounds of negotiations, the church narrowed the design to one building addition, before village officials annexed the property and connected it to village-run utilities, officials said.
The $7.4 million expansion will span 11,100 square feet, bringing the entire building space at the chruch to 18,600 square feet, church officials said.
As they prepare to start construction, members with Ascension of Our Lord Greek Orthodox Church have raised about 80 percent of the funds that the church needs for the project and are planning additional fundraisers in the coming months, Malamis said.
Mike Jesse, a building inspector with Lincolnshire, said the village is about to issue the church building permits for the project.
“It’s been a busy year,” Malamis said, adding that a major church fundraiser is planned for February.
Once it begins, construction on the building addition is expected to take 14 months, he said.
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