BY SIMON AVERY, TORONTO

The jarring sound of jack hammers has replaced the sweet sounds of the Riverdale Presbyterian Church choir on Pape Avenue. In a few months, a handful of affluent city folks with a stylish bent will begin filling some of the 32 new condominimum units going up in the cavernous space that for nearly 80 years was home to a dedicated congregation.

Similar church conversions are going on up town in Lawrence Park and over in Roncesvalles Village – further affirmation that Toronto has become a key part of North America's widening condo belt.

As congregations shut down or move out of the city, developers are moving in, converting houses of worship into lofts of luxury.

The gradual secularization of Canadian society has been recorded for years. Between 1946 and 2001, the proportion of adult Canadians attending regular religious services dropped from 67 per cent to 20 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.

But only in the last few years have developers begun to enter the scene. There are three completed church conversions in the city – two near Yonge Street just north of Bloor Street and one near Queen and Bathurst Streets. There are also several church halls that have been renovated and turned into lofts.

Some of these transformed temples are a hot commodity, selling several years ahead of completion. Real estate insiders have been among the first to snap them up.

The conversion trend is just beginning, experts say. Edwin Brdlik, owner of Toronto Lofts Realty Corp., predicts that developers will undertake between three and seven new projects in the city during the next five years.

Prices for a unit in a converted church range between $325 and $500 square foot, compared with $275 to $325 a square foot for other lofts, he says.

“You're going to pay top dollar. It's not for the bargain hunter.”

The attraction of a conversion is the location, the space and the uniqueness.

Most loft developments occur in industrial buildings located on the city's fringes. But churches sit in the heart of communities, on leafy lanes and residential streets.

Their size and open design allow developers to carve out multiple level units with towering ceilings and arched windows running the height of the condominium.

One of the big benefits of a home in a converted church – space. The 5,000-square-foot loft at Queen and Bathurst boasts 24-foot ceilings and a rooftop deck.

“We have 24 foot ceilings, which give what I call a volumetric effect,” says the owner of a 5,000 square-foot unit in the former Church of St. Cyril & Methodius, who asked that his name not be used. “It's an incredible feeling. The windows are so large that you can sit and look up at the sky. The light here is spectacular.”

The loft at Queen and Bathurst, is one of two in the converted Slovakian Roman Catholic church, which served the working-class immigrant community around Queen and Bathurst Streets for more than half a century before the congregation relocated to Mississauga in the 1990s.

In the age of cookie cutter condos, church conversions also offer uniqueness. At Queen and Bathurst, the loft blends remnants of church life with an industrial design. The main living area maintains the original maple floor, but the kitchen and bathrooms are lined with red and black industrialized rubber flooring. In the bedroom, an original church fresco has been uncovered on one wall.

Outside, the deck has been cut into the old church roof and features corrugated sheets of metal and industrial support beams. A glass-block wall lets light into the living area below.

The owner and his wife recently listed the property for sale for $1.9 million through Toronto Lofts Realty Corp.