News Photo by Temi Fadayomi All Saint Catholic School principal Melissa Doubek in her office on Wednesday explains the new plans to move All Saints Catholic School to the former St. John’s Church.

ALPENA — All Saints Catholic Parish has begun its renovation project to turn the former St. John’s Church into its Center of Evangelization, making it the new permanent home for All Saints Catholic School.

“It’s always sad when you close a building,” All Saint Catholic School Principal Melissa Doubek said. “But moving over there [St. Johns] is just going to give us more room since we are pretty much now going to be maxed out here.”

Outside of being able to house more students, Doubek also said that St. Johns — which is located at 2425 Frederick St — offers a host of other benefits and advantages that students and parents will enjoy such as new playground equipment, a wooded area for nature walks, and a safer location for the students.

“The children are very excited about the move,” Doubek said. “They’ll have a brand new playground and it will be a large area, with soccer fields and kickball fields. We’ll also have nature walks because there is a wooded area … there is a lot of traffic flow here so the new environment will be much safer.”

In preparation for the transition, the former St. John’s church will undergo some renovations, such as the addition of new doors and windows, repurposing of old rooms into classrooms, and some reconstructions of a social hall into a gymnasium for students.

According to All Saints Parochial Administrator Fr. Tyler Bischoff, the move of the school is part of a ten-year strategic plan. As of right now, there has only been general maintenance done to the building.

“This summer, we’ve only started some general maintenance on the outside of the building,” Bischoff said. “People can’t see the parking lots being fixed, we’re gonna get new signs, new parking lights, and we’re working on some of the roofing.”

While All Saints has yet to announce an official budget or potential expenses for the project, it is looking to pay for the project work is ongoing rather than taking on debt.

All Saints recently celebrated becoming debt free at their Parish Festival on July 16 with a final payment of $377,000. Bischoff credits donations made to the parish as well as an organic and gradual cut down on expenses over the years.

“A lot of the debt we were able to pay because of people’s generosity to the parish and because we lowered expenses,” Bischoff said.

More details on both the expected expenses of the project as well as fundraising efforts are set to be announced later this year.

The old school building is going to be sold once the transition process is completed, but there are no plans on a buyer at the moment. The current plan for the new school is to have renovations completed by the 2024-2025 school year

“It’s going to be a wonderful move,” Doubek said about the school’s transition to St. Johns.