St. Mary's Parish has bought some deteriorating houses near the church and is tearing them down with the idea of creating green space or possibly a soccer field.

"Hopefully it'll perk up the neighborhood," said Monsignor Richard Rolwing.

He compared the project to First Presbyterian Church's flower garden. The church bought the corner lot at North Spanish Street and Broadway, razed the buildings, and in 1991 put in beds of roses.

Most of the houses St. Mary's Parish has bought are located behind the church, which has a playground that is almost entirely asphalt.

A Nip Kelley Construction Co. crew tore down a house at 214 S. Frederick St. Thursday. The crew was due to begin demolishing the house next door at 210 S. Frederick today. The asbestos-laden slate roof already has been removed.

The parish also has bought a house east of those, at 515 William St., and another across from the church at 618 William.

Both will be demolished, Rolwing says.

He said none of the houses the parish has torn down so far was usable because of disrepair. "You could spend a lot of money bringing them up to code and still have an old building," he said.

The plan to buy the properties took shape after the parish council took up the question of what could be done to clean up the neighborhood around the church. Ideas included turning the property into green space or a soccer field or perhaps building offices.

The parish held an open house recently so that parishioners could express their preferences for the properties.

Rolwing said a final decision about how to proceed won't be made until negotiations with other property owners are complete. Two houses in the 200 block of South Frederick have not yet been acquired.

"Until we can firmly get title to all the properties, no decision can be made," he said.

The title of the corner house at 200 S. Frederick is held by multiple owners, Rolwing said, adding that some are interested in selling.

Another stumbling block to completing the plan is the Dace house at 218 S. Frederick. The Rev. Jimmy and Doris Dace now live in Centralia, Mo.

Rolwing is aware that the Daces did a considerable amount of rehab work on the house before they moved away (see related story). He said he doesn't know what the parish would do with it.

Rolwing said the fact that the Daces live elsewhere has hindered attempts to negotiate with them. "We haven't been able to find out what's going on," he said.

Whatever the parish decides to do with the properties is going to be an improvement, Rolwing said.

"It's not only going to improve the neighborhood, it's going to help the city."