Former Methodist church in Aspinwall sold to Fox Chapel businessman

A former church in Aspinwall may be converted to residential living spaces.

Fox Chapel businessman Tony Pompeo Jr. recently acquired the closed Community Methodist Church at 400 Center Ave.

The site is nearly 0.29 acres and includes a sanctuary and school building.

The church property was listed by Coldwell Banker Realty and sold for $399,900.

Pompeo’s company, Amena Properties, closed on the sale Jan. 10.

The 2011 Fox Chapel Area grad talked on Jan. 14 about what this new opportunity means for him.

“I just think Aspinwall is a great area,” Pompeo said. “The borough is very easy to work with. They promote growth and I just think it’s a great family-oriented area that you can’t go wrong in.”

He said plans for the site have not been finalized and that he would have a better idea of its future in the next six months.

Options include converting the property to a new home, duplex or apartment.

“We’re open to almost any avenue,” said Pompeo, 32. “Whatever I do there will be high-end, and I plan on working very close with the borough. We want to make sure it makes sense for not only myself, but the borough and the residents as well.”

Borough manager Melissa Lang O’Malley said on Jan. 15 the borough will receive real estate transfer tax revenue as a result of the sale, but the amount was not yet available.

She confirmed discussions took place between Pompeo and the borough’s building inspector and zoning officer Ryan Santelli, but no formal proposals were submitted.

The site is zoned residential. Single-family and two-family homes are among the permitted uses.

Churches, day care centers, bed-and-breakfasts and multi-family dwellings are listed as conditional uses, which means there are extra steps in the development process to allow the property to be used in any of those ways.

O’Malley said if Pompeo wanted to build more than a permitted use, he would have to go before the zoning hearing board and get a variance.

All development plans must go before the borough’s planning commission and eventually council for formal approval.

Parking would be an issue for a multi-family development. The church only has a few spaces, including an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant spot outside the sanctuary’s front door.

“I think parking is a concern for everyone,” Pompeo said. “We don’t want to eat up more space on the road, and certainly don’t want turn over a product where the end user has difficulties with parking as well.”

Church history

Terry Nelson Taylor, a resident and local historian, said the original church building was made of wood and established in November 1895.

It was called the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Aspinwall.

It was enlarged and reconstructed with a brick facade in 1931 and dedicated in March 1932.

Taylor said it was later renamed the First Methodist Church of Aspinwall in 1942 due to a unification of Methodist churches.

Congregations of Aspinwall and Blawnox merged and formed the Community United Methodist Church with services at both churches until 2010.

The building next to the sanctuary in Aspinwall hosted Sunday school classes, Alcoholics Anonymous and AARP meetings, as well as activities with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and a Kiwanis Club.

The Community Child Development Center offered daycare services there for more than 40 years until closing in early December.

There is precedent for converting an Aspinwall church into a residential space. A former Lutheran church at the corner of Fifth Street and Center Avenue was made into a duplex many years ago.

Taylor said its members moved in June 1974 to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Fox Chapel on Powers Run Road. That Aspinwall site has housed families since at least the 1990s.

Taylor hopes Pompeo will preserve the Methodist church’s sanctuary.

“I’m heartsick to lose that,” she said. “And to have anything that would destroy that sanctuary with the 16 stained glass windows and the oak trusses roof. He’s going to have a fight on his hands when it comes to zoning. There is no parking there.”

Ileen Kelly, Aspinwall resident and former church treasurer, said declining enrollment led to the church ceasing services in July 2023.

Its remaining members attended services at churches in New Kensington, Verona and Penn Hills’ Rosedale neighborhood before formally merging with Verona United Methodist Church in October.

“The people just died off and we were not successful in getting new people,” Kelly said. “We were down just a very few people that attended church. The building was in need of repairs and money was a problem for that. It just seemed sensible to merge with another church.”

The New Kensington, Verona and Rosedale churches were led by the Rev. Dale Reese of Murrysville.

“He really helped a lot with this merger,” Kelly said. “We’re really happy with it. Verona has been very welcoming. They have used a lot of our furnishings and put them in their sanctuary. They’ve just been great about it.”

Items moved from Aspinwall to Verona include the pulpit, a baby grand piano, banners and a baptismal font. Pews and many other items remained.

There was a closing ceremony on Oct. 5 at the Aspinwall church with former members and pastors.

Kelly said the property went up for sale in November and its members were pleasantly surprised to see it purchased so quickly.

“It was sold in a short time and we’re going to go on with it now,” she said. “There were lots of details that had to be taken care of. The building was sold with a lot of furnishings still in it. That was part of the sale agreement. We took whatever we wanted and moved it up to Verona.”

Pompeo said he is still contemplating what to do with the sanctuary and its items.

Use of funds

The nearly $400,000 from the sale will be used for building maintenance and upgrades, according to Verona United Methodist treasurer and trustee Al Delissio said on Jan. 15.

Repairs include a full roof replacement, plaster and electrical work, interior and exterior painting and new doors.

Delissio said the roof was fixed in phases last year for more than $100,000. He is getting prices on the other projects.

“We’re going little bit by little bit,” Delissio said. “The building’s 100-and-some years old. Prior to (the Aspinwall sale) we didn’t have money to do a lot. We had enough money to stay operating, but some of the stuff we just neglected.

“We’re bringing it up to make it look better and bring more people in.”

The Verona church was built in 1915. It has about 40 active members with between 25 and 30 of them at any given Sunday service.

Exterior painting would take place in the spring.

Any leftover funds will be used for maintenance at a parsonage in Fox Chapel.

Other Amena Aspinwall properties

The Aspinwall church is not the only Pompeo property in the borough.

He also owns an office and retail mixed-use building along Brilliant Avenue and a parcel that fronts both Commercial Avenue and First Street.

The Brilliant Avenue building houses the Antiquarian Shop, Fox and the Fleur as well as some financial businesses.

The Commercial Avenue building houses Wrecking Crew Media, Brow & Crown Collective and La Marie.

Pompeo has owned those properties since 2020.

“I feel very fortunate to be in a position where I can offer facilities for commercial users and would like to get into residential as well,” he said. “The thought of being able to maybe provide homes for families and kids that will one day go to Fox Chapel Area School District makes me feel fortunate. We’re all fortunate to be in this area and grow up in such a nice place. I’d like to be able to give back and give people that same opportunity.”

Pompeo also works as a project manager for the family business, Mark Anthony Construction & Real Estate Development in Sharpsburg.

That business owns several properties in the Fox Chapel Area School District.