A landmark 1860s building at 425 Union Street is set to become a pregnancy resource center after clearing a historic preservation review. The plan must now be approved by Columbia Borough Council.
Align Life Ministries, based in Lebanon, PA, is renovating the building, long used as a gentlemen’s club (most recently “Club Good Times”), to be used as the Align Life Ministries Pregnancy Center. The $1.5 million project, submitted through Speedwell Construction of Manheim, calls for a complete overhaul: new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, a reconfigured interior layout, and new exterior windows, roofing, doors and siding. The plans also include an accessible ramp to the main floor topped by a metal-framed canopy, with a similar canopy proposed for the rear of the building, between the main structure and an attached garage.
Align Life Ministries is a faith-based, pro-life nonprofit that provides pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, parenting classes and other support services. The organization currently operates out of a smaller office at 462 Chestnut Street in Columbia. The ministry, which recently purchased the building for $275,000, said it had outgrown its former space and needed a larger facility (the Union Street building is roughly twice the size) to accommodate a growing number of clients and expand its services in the Columbia community.
Because the property sits within Columbia’s historic district, the borough’s Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB) was required to weigh in before any exterior work could proceed. The board held a public meeting on September 9 to review the application, which had been submitted August 13.
According to the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County, which submitted comments ahead of the meeting, 425 Union Street is a two-and-a-half-story, four-bay Italianate commercial building dating to 1860, featuring a bracketed cornice, arched attic windows, spaniel-ear hoods, and original shutters on its first-floor windows. Two attached brick carriage houses sit at the rear of the property.
After considering that information, HARB recommended approval of a Certificate of Appropriateness for the project, with conditions.
The matter now heads to Columbia Borough Council, which is scheduled to vote on final approval of the Certificate of Appropriateness at its regular meeting on September 22.
Columbia Spy 