Basically, the house being built on the northeast corner of our parish property is the last house built in the subdivision of St. Thomas Woods. Fr. Viall bought the corner lot before anyone could put a house on it back in the 1970's. The house will face Hilary Dr. and have a Hilary Dr. address.
The style of house was most influenced by the topography of the lot - a pretty significant sloping hill downward toward the church building. That lot shape has allowed us to build a ranch home (single story) with a "walkout basement". There is a small "bonus room" above the triple garage. The house will be 2500 square feet on the first floor and it will complete handicapped accessible with two priest suites on either end of the house and a great room, chapel, and kitchen in the center. The lower level walk out will have another priest suite and the bonus space above the garage will have a guest room.
All of the dirt removed in the excavation is being spread across the front yard of the church. We will be re-seeding the lawn as soon as the basement is back-filled and the remaining dirt is distributed to match the terrain of the yard.
There will be a second story deck off the back of the main floor and a patio underneath the deck outside of the walkout basement. The sidewalk that has always gone from Hilary down along the stations of the cross toward the church will be a very handy path for the residents of St. Thomas Woods AND NOW OUR priests to get to church.