St. Jude's Church in Derby. The photo is from the parish website.
DERBY — St. Jude’s Church and its 16 acres at 71 Pleasant View Road were placed up for sale Monday with a $1.3 million asking price.
Click here for the listing.
The last services were held Sunday. The church’s closing isn’t a surprise. St. Jude’s and St. Mary’s Church on Elizabeth Street in Derby merged in 2017, forming Our Lady Queen of the Apostles, a new parish.
In a letter posted to the parish website in October, Father Christopher Tiano noted the number of congregants in Derby was declining while expenses connected to church properties were increasing. The parish owns St. Jude’s, St. Mary’s, and the St. Mary-St. Michael School. The parking lot at St. Jude’s alone needed between $100,000 to $250,000 in repairs, Tiano noted.
Tiano noted the parish itself is not in financial trouble — it just no longer made sense to operate two churches in the city.
The parish has 1,000 congregants.
“As a child of Derby I know how difficult this decision is. However, as a priest and more importantly as your pastor, I am convinced that this decision will allow us to be stronger and more vibrant in the future,” Tiano said in his message.
The church is zoned in Derby as “public/semi public.” Permitted uses include houses of worship, nursing homes, noncommercial recreation facilities, unspecified municipal uses, public parks — and single-family houses.
Derby native Henry Healey, a Realtor with the Porto Team of Coldwell Banker, is listing the property.
“We’re getting interest from across the state, and have taken calls from California and Arizona,” Healey said. “It’s a unique piece of property with a lot of open land, the church structure, a cell tower, and it’s surrounded by three different neighborhoods. It’s a level, clean and beautiful piece of property; it’s very special and whatever goes there has to fit the city’s needs. There are lots of opportunities there. Of course anything that goes in there has to go through the City of Derby (planning and zoning commission).”
Healey said the property might be ideally suited for a senior community, or for single family homes.
“I can actually see it as a beautiful wedding venue,” Healey noted. “There’s a lot of good people behind this who want to see only good things happen with the property.”
Walt Mayhew, Derby Mayor Rich Dziekan’s new chief of staff, said any residential development would have to comply with the city’s “R‑2” residential zone, which he said is a minimum lot size of half an acre.
