Exclusive | Pope Leos first church in ruins, owned by DJ, in danger of foreclosure
Pope Leo’s childhood church, St.Mary of the Assumption on Chicago’s south side, is in a state of disrepair and in danger of foreclosure, but its opportunistic owner now has a new vision for the property — and is looking to raise some cash.The old St.
Mary’s parish is located in the impoverished Riverdale neighborhood and consists of a school, a rectory, a convent, an annex building and the church itself — which was built in 1957.The church has been in peril for some time, but last week was the subject of renewed interest, as it emerged that the newly appointed pope was a regular at the church in the 1950s and 60s.The American pontiff, now 69, was born and raised in the south Chicago suburb of Dolton.He attended services at St.
Mary’s and also went to school there.The last Mass held at St.Mary of the Assumption was in the summer of 2011.
It now lies “vacant and its furniture gone, with a hole in the roof that can be seen from the street”, according to local media.Several new images of the church’s interior show graffiti scrawled behind the altar.It’s also embroiled in a legal battle.The archdiocese sold the church to a real estate company that auctioned it off in 2020 to Chicago DJ/ businessman, Joe Hall — who is now accused by mortgage lender F Street Investments of defaulting on repayments. Hall and his attorneys, Luke Wiley and Bardia Fard, did not respond to questions from The Post.A notice of foreclosure was filed in June last year and the case is ongoing, court documents obtained by The Post reveal.F Street’s Chief Operating Office Mike Doney said that “we have no comment at this time” in relation to the matter.Hall recently said that he had purchased the site to house his social services nonprofit, JBlendz Enterprises.“We originally bought it [for our] workforce education program,” Hall told The Chicago Sun Times last week.
“I teach solar energy.I teach telecommunications, and I have a DJ apprenticeship [program].
And s...