Michael Coggins and his company NMC Property are breathing new life into the old church at 201 Ellington in Luling, an almost 100-year-old building that has led multiple lives in St. Charles Parish. Coggins will reopen the old church building up later this month as an event venue after completing extensive renovations on the property.
Coggins, who separately runs a family-owned construction and renovation firm, first came to know the old Ellington church building in October of 2015 after seeing it listed on a local area Craigslist ad.
“I went out [to Post and Ellington], took a look at it, and fell in love with the building,” he said of his first encounter with the property some eight years ago. “I like old architecture, and…always had a dream of [renovating a property] like this.”
According to St. Charles Parish history website scphistory.org, the property was initially used as the St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church starting around 1926. It would continuously be used as a church until 1969, when St. Anthony of Padua church moved its Luling location to its current larger site on Angus Drive.
“It’s been interesting to see the different ages of the parish come through,” Coggins said of curious St. Charles Parish locals who have stopped by as he renovated the building. “People would always stop in and look through it – if they were of a certain age, they remembered it being a church, or they got married there, or they were baptized there. If they were a little younger, they might remember it as a dance hall – which it was until the 70s.”
After being used as a dance hall, the church property would go on later to become a kindergarten school, then a warehouse building when Coggins purchased it.
Coggins initially rented the property for around a year, then purchased it from its prior owner, local investor and entrepreneur Rick Whitney. During the last eight years, Coggins used the property as a warehouse for his family’s construction business. After purchasing the old church building, he began making minor improvements, and following Hurricane Ida, made the decision to make significant renovations to the property in order to convert it into an event venue.
A tree struck the exterior of the church building following Hurricane Ida, damaging the street size of the structure and causing significant damage to a portion of the building’s exterior. After seeing the damage, Coggins said he was determined to repair it properly.
“I spent several months trying to find someone that was talented enough to rebuild it like it was before, to make sure the front façade stayed the [same] way,” Coggins said.
He said he kept the original footprint of the building intact as much as he could during renovations and made most modifications in the rear of the old church building, in order to remain in compliance with fire marshal standards.
“We’ve added bathrooms and sort of subdivided the back area for different purposes, because it was really just two large open rooms originally,” Coggins said, his crew also adding a few offices as well inside the building.
When the building took on damage following Hurricane Ida and had to be gutted, he uncovered a special surprise, taking him back in time as he opened up the old walls. His construction crew discovered a hidden remnant of the old St. Anthony church, the majority of which had long been removed by the building’s prior owners after having had several different uses over the years.
“We actually found a Latin prayer nailed to the wall that had been there for 55 years or so, that [the prior owners] put paneling over,” Coggins said. “So, we took it down and we’re going to frame it and put it [back] in the building.”
The building renovation was an involved two-year process for Coggins, whom he said took the help and involvement of many people, including parish officials, input from local investor Rick Whitney, and numerous others who helped the project move along.
The freshly renovated building was having final interior touches added to it as of press time. Coggins said his building at 201 Ellington will commercially now be known as “The Old Church,” and will host its first event on August 18, an art show and exhibition put on by the Paul Maillard Business and Arts Initiative.
“We’re open for reservations effectively immediately,” Coggins said proudly.
For more details on the building and event venue, visit Coggins’s company on the web at oldchurchluling.com or via Facebook here under “Old Church Luling.”
Be the first to comment