CHARLOTTE — With the summer months comes the opportunity for improvements to be made at many facilities, particularly schools, in the Diocese of Charlotte. This summer, the diocesan Properties Office is overseeing a tremendous to-do list of more than 80 maintenance projects for the Catholic schools alone, besides additional capital projects for the new St. Joseph College Seminary, historic Old St. Joseph Church in Mount Holly, Western Carolina University Campus Ministry and Christ the King High School.
School maintenance projects under way range from carpet and tile replacement, to painting and ordering replacement classroom furniture and equipment for the coming school year.
At Christ the King High School, a two-story classroom expansion project has begun, with approximately 27,000 square feet of new construction. The expansion includes a new cafeteria, large multipurpose room for drama and band, a fabrication shop, three science classrooms and eight general purpose classrooms. There will also be a parking lot expansion that will add 53 new spaces and tie into a new loop road that will connect Crusader Lane to Shiloh Church Road for a new secondary entrance to the campus.
The project is expected to take a year to complete, with a cost estimate of $11 million which will be funded by the Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools capital fee.
Among other notable maintenance projects at the diocesan schools are the replacement of the gymnasium floor at Our Lady of the Assumption School in Charlotte and the refinishing of the stage floor at Holy Trinity Middle School in Charlotte.
At St. Joseph College Seminary, a home on nearby Hillside Avenue has been purchased and is being renovated to house up to 10 additional seminarians until a permanent seminary can be built in the diocese. This fall, the college seminary expects to have 16 students – seven seminarians continuing their studies from last year housed at the current residence behind St. Ann Church, and nine new seminarians housed at the second house. The two houses are close to each other, with the church located between them.
Expansion work at Christ the King High School. (Photos provided by Anthony Morlando.) 
Out with the old and in with the new: WCU's Catholic Campus Ministry chapel ready for a remodel.Diocesan officials hope to close in mid-September on a 50-acre site in Mount Holly for the college seminary’s permanent location. Once the property has been purchased, fundraising efforts to construct the seminary building will continue outside the diocese. Concentrated fundraising efforts can begin in the diocese in the fall of 2018. The second house next to St. Ann Church will later be sold as an investment property.
In addition, Old St. Joseph Church in Mount Holly had a structural and restoration analysis completed this summer. Over the coming months, bids will be accepted to help renovate the 174-year-old church to fix the roof, floors and other architectural weaknesses in the historic structure. This project is expected to cost $100,000 to address the most critical issues. Additional funds will be needed to finish the restoration. Fundraising efforts in the community will take place later in 2018 to raise these additional funds.
Old St. Joseph Church was built in 1843 for and by Irish immigrants, who had come to mine for gold along the Catawba River. It is the oldest Catholic Church still standing in the state and is an official state and U.S. historical site. Today it is used only for special occasions such as the feasts of St. Patrick and St. Joseph in March.
The original Our Lady of the Assumption building on Shenandoah Avenue in Charlotte has been sold to a local Christian church. The diocese had been using the old building for storage, but diocesan officials are in the process of purchasing a more appropriate storage facility on Rozzelles Ferry Road in Charlotte.
At Western Carolina University, the old Campus Ministry building has seen a $125,000 remodel of the chapel, kitchen, bathrooms and general improvements to the 2,400-square-foot facility.
Extensive Campus Ministry summer projects at four universities over the past two years have been funded by the 2014 diocesan-wide “Forward in Faith, Hope, and Love” campaign. A total of approximately $480,000 from the FFHL campaign has been used for these improvements.
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter