St. Francis of Assisi Catholic church in Provo may have gone the way of the old Hotel Roberts.

But in the wake of the unexpected demolition of the 84-year-old historic church on Monday, a group of concerned Provo residents is determined to keep what they call a repeat of the "Hotel Roberts atrocity" from occurring again.

"Most people ignore historic buildings because they're part of our environment, and therefore taken for granted. But people need to be reminded of what we have here, or it'll be easy to devalue that," said Maht Paulos, founder of the Sego Arts Foundation in Provo.

Paulos was one of several Provo citizens including Scott Bingham, vice president of the Historic Provo Preservation Foundation, who met Tuesday night at galleryOneTEN in Provo. The group discussed events leading up to the demolition of the church and what can be done in the future to prevent the loss of more historically and culturally significant buildings in the area.

"This is a repeat of the atrocity with Hotel Roberts. Many of us are longtime Provo residents and care a lot about the city. We want to talk about what we can do to raise awareness of the situation so this doesn't happen again," Paulos said.

Sego, which supported the preservation group's efforts to preserve St. Francis, had hoped to see the church building remodeled into a cinema with classroom space for community arts classes.

To raise awareness of the significance of the loss, the group will hold a memorial march on July 20 starting at 6:30 p.m. at the site of the former Hotel Roberts.

"For the St. Francis Memorial March, we'll walk down University Avenue to Center Street and down 500 West to St. Francis. Then we'll have a small video presentation and a concert to commemorate the church," Paulos said.

Bingham, Timpanogos Neighborhood chairman, said he hopes there will be enough pressure put on Landmark Partners, a Lindon-based developer of the church property, to keep them from building a vanilla project on the former church site.

The church building on the 1.38-acre property at 172 N. 500 West went down after Landmark, a real estate development company co-owned by Eduard Vozar and local physician Peter Duros, both of Lindon, claimed through its lawyer it could not reach agreement with the preservation foundation, a group formed to save the old structure.

"We have to prevent bad design from going in its place. It's a big enough slap in our faces when they tore down the church," Bingham said. "We have to make sure the developers aren't rewarded for tearing down the church."

"This is a great opportunity to have a beautiful building there, depending on the community's level of involvement," Bingham said.

To help preserve Provo's historical heritage, Bingham suggested identifying viable buildings that are in danger of demolition and determining what can be done to preserve them.

"Ideally we want to identify the issue before it becomes an issue," he said. "For instance, if there are buildings in downtown Provo that are for sale, we can ask if the potential new owners will put stores in there that will help revitalize the downtown area."

Bingham said he has submitted proposed amendments to Provo city's current demolition permit ordinance that will require developers to have in place approved project plans before demolishing historic buildings.

"If a project is aesthetically pleasing and works with the neighborhood, then there's implied ownership among its residents and you'll have a successful project," he said.

For Brent Ashworth, a member of the Provo Landmarks Commission and great nephew of Claude Ashworth, who had designed St. Francis, the church's destruction came as an "absolute shock."

"It's a total shock. It seems like a death in the family," said Ashworth, who also owns B. Ashworth's Rare Books in downtown Provo. "The Catholic Church wanted the Landmarks Commission to remove the historic landmark designation, but we voted that down. But the Provo Municipal Council cut a deal with the developer. If the money wasn't in escrow by April 19, then the landmark designation will be lifted."

In April, the preservation foundation said it had raised $1.25 million in private donations to save the church. But an alleged last-minute computer glitch put the deal one day past the April 19 deadline set by the council.

After the April 19 deadline passed, the council removed the church from Provo's Landmarks Register, clearing the way for the tear-down of the building, sale of the land and redevelopment of the property. The property is still owned by the Catholic Diocese, which controlled the timing of and the decision to demolish St. Francis, said Adam Ford, an attorney for Landmark. He said the Catholic Diocese razed the building in order to receive funds from Landmark sooner and to build the new church in Orem.

"I don't understand why the deal didn't go through," Ashworth said. "Provo city tried to work with both groups. But I blame Landmark Partners because they didn't close the deal even though the money was in escrow."

Tom Heal, a commercial real estate broker handling the deal for the preservation group, said the April 19 deal fell through because Landmark failed to provide completed title work and closing documents.

"Landmark breached the agreement by failing to do the title work and the closing documents. So who is really in default?" he said.

But Ford blamed the deal's collapse on the preservation group, which he claimed never showed up with the money in escrow.

"It just seems disgusting," Ashworth said. "I was general counsel of Brigham Young Academy Foundation, which raised $6 million in 1997 to save the Academy Square building. As a member of the Landmarks Commission, my hands were more tied than when I was counsel for the Academy Foundation."

Despite being unhappy with the way the deal fell through, the preservation group said it has no plans to take legal action.

"You have to decide what battles to fight. We're not interested to sue them. It's very expensive, time consuming and an emotional drain," said Douglas Bush, president of the preservation foundation. "We've tried to conduct ourselves in good faith, and we've not been treated equally by the other side."

Dayle Jeffs, an attorney who provided some pro bono legal assistance to the preservation foundation after the deal fell through, said legal action would be pointless now that the church has been demolished.

"After the deal failed to close on April 19, the group wanted to know what their options were of reopening negotiations to reinstate the opportunity to buy the church building," he said.

"Someone wanted to know if they had the right to sue. I said I didn't think it was likely because they didn't have any purchase agreement in writing."

Info box

For more information on St. Francis's demolition and preserving Provo's historic buildings, visit preserveprovo.blogspot.com