When she was just a teenager, Rita Darisse watched from outside her home in Salem as workers laid the white brick walls of St. Joseph Church on Lafayette Street.
Now 77, Darisse stood outside with a small camera on Friday, again watching, but this time as demolition crews tore down the church.
“I saw it going up; now I’m seeing it going down,” Darisse said ruefully.
"Workers began razing the church building in the Point neighborhood of Salem this week after years of legal wrangling. The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston closed St. Joseph’s in 2004, and redevelopment has been delayed by the appeals of historic preservationists who sought to save the church building, the cornerstone of which was laid in 1949.
The site will soon house a four-story building with 51 apartments, said Lisa B. Alberghini, president of the Planning Office for Urban Affairs, a development affiliate of the archdiocese. Commercial and community space will occupy part of the ground floor.
‘I saw it going up; now I’m seeing it going down.’
Alberghini said most apartments will be “workforce housing,” and the maximum income a family of five could have to qualify will be $63,000. Eight apartments will serve tenants who receive Section 8 government rental assista"
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