$15 Billion in Land Changed Hands: Why Old Canadian Churches Are Turning Into Condo Towers

• When 4,300 churches closed between 2009 and 2018, $15 billion in land value changed hands
• Toronto’s Unitarian church sold 13,000 square feet for $16.13 million and bought a new home for about $5 million
• Vancouver’s First Baptist Church is part of a 57-storey tower with seven storeys of affordable housing
• A Toronto Presbyterian church’s condo plan was halted by a heritage designation

Canada’s churches are becoming some of its most valuable development sites, The Margin reported in July 2026.

The report cited a striking figure: “When 4,300 churches closed between 2009 and 2018, $15 billion in land value changed hands.” In Toronto, a Unitarian church sold 13,000 square feet of land for $16.13 million and bought a new location for about $5 million. Bloor Street United Church redeveloped its site to include a new worship space with Sunday school rooms, an assembly hall and kitchen, alongside 40,000 square feet of Class A office space, construction valued at $50 million. The process took about a decade.

In Vancouver, First Baptist Church is part of a 57-storey luxury tower that includes seven storeys of affordable housing and a 37-space daycare. Not every plan succeeds: St John’s Presbyterian Church in Toronto’s east end planned a 10-storey, 60-unit condo building, but a municipal heritage designation in 2022 derailed it.

Jeremiah Shamess of Colliers said: “These are some of the most valuable parcels of land in the city.” For Michael Hilliard of Bloor Street United, the change was personal: “It’s been the one constant physical space in my entire life.” But he added: “Our faith isn’t defined by bricks and mortar, but rather what we do in the building.”

The Canadian examples show different ways to use church land: an outright sale and move, a redevelopment that keeps the church on site, or a partnership that includes community housing. Each depends on location, planning rules and heritage status.

Some Jamaicans in Toronto and Vancouver worship in congregations facing these choices. At home, churches with sites in growing towns can learn from them: value the land, understand heritage and planning limits early, expect the process to take years, and decide what the congregation must keep, such as a sanctuary on the site, before negotiating with a developer.

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