St. Anthony of Padua is the patron saint of lost things, but it isn’t lost on regional officials the amount of work that has gone into saving St. Anthony Church in Toledo’s Junction neighborhood.

On Monday morning, the Lucas County Land Bank hosted the official groundbreaking of a project that has been in the works for years.

“I think there’s an obvious and wonderful tie-in there that once was lost is now found again,” Lucas County Treasurer Lindsay Webb said of the former church.

The historic church closed in 2005 and was slated for demolition. The land bank acquired the property from the Toledo Catholic Diocese in 2018.

The church will be renovated and transformed into a community center for the Junction neighborhood.

The land bank has raised about $6 million to revitalize the build

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