Orange County’s most iconic house of worship has designs on becoming one of the most famous structures in the Roman Catholic Church.
The Christ Cathedral, previously known as the Crystal Cathedral, is scheduled to reopen on July 17 after a $77 million renovation and a long-awaited mass of dedication—seven years after the property’s purchase by the Catholic Church, which cost another $57.5 million.
The newly dedicated church in Garden Grove will offer mass on Sundays in four languages. The new name was chosen by Bishop Emeritus Tod D. Brown.
Despite the former name, there was no actual crystal used in the Crystal Cathedral.
“It is the only fully glass cathedral in the world—and it sits in the middle of a seismic earthquake zone,” said Richard Heim, chief executive of Clark Construction Group, who chaired the committee that oversaw the property’s restoration.
“As I look back, it has been an honor to have overseen this new cathedral for the Diocese of Orange,” said Heim, one of many area business execs who volunteered time and experience for the redevelopment project (see separate story, below).
Worshipers Rise, Nothing Falls
This month’s dedication for the facility is a notable step for Catholics in Orange County.
The area’s diocese in 1976 had 300,000 members. That figure has since climbed to 1.6 million, according to the National Catholic Reporter.
The 30-month renovation of the property’s core buildings cost $55 million. An additional $22 million was spent on the campus’ artwork.
From June 2017 to September 2018, crews logged 100,000 construction hours.
Some of the first work at the site—a 2012 seismic retrofitting effort—has paid recent dividends.
When asked about the impact of the recent California earthquakes that rocked Ridgecrest over the Fourth of July weekend, the church said there were no reported issues.
“The first thing we did was retrofit the cathedral,” said Hank Evers, the Cathedral’s director of marketing.
Notable Features
The cathedral included more than 11,000 glass windows reaching as high as a 12-story building; two 20-foot tall, 7,000-pound bronze doors festooned with artwork and a 10-by-7-foot mosaic of the Our Lady of Guadalupe replaced the cathedral’s glass doors.
Over 11,000 aluminum “quatrefoils,” essentially a geometric aluminum shade, were installed to cover the interior of each glass pane to prevent them from overheating the interior and to deflect UV rays.
“It would be like a greenhouse in here” before the quatrefoils were installed, Evers said.
A 14,000-pound altar built in Italy from Turkish marble contains relics of saints from Vietnam, South Korea, and North America. A 1,000-pound steel cross, called a Crux Gemmata, hangs over the altar.
Snyder Langston, which is overseeing the work as general contractor, ranked No. 8 on the Business Journal’s annual list of tenant- improvement contractors, reporting $50.2 million in OC work in 2018 (see list, starts on page 24). Greg McClure acted as the superintendent for the project.
Original Icon
Built in 1980 for $18 million, the former Crystal Cathedral was an Orange County icon designed by famed modern architect Phillip Johnson. Its 236-foot steel spire and 52-bell carillon were completed in 1990.
“The architect, [Los Angeles-based] Johnson Fain, did an extraordinary job in maintaining the iconic architecture of the original Phillip Johnson design,” Heim said.
The late Robert Schuller, who began preaching to motorists at a drive-in movie theater in 1955, long presided over the facility and hosted “Hour of Power,” which was broadcast to a global audience at its peak.
However, membership began dwindling and by 2010, the Cathedral was forced to declare bankruptcy.
At that time, the Catholic Church was considering spending $200 million for a new diocesan seat.
Tim Busch, chief executive and founder of Irvine-based law firm Busch Firm, as well as hotel operator of Pacific Hospitality Group, and a prominent adviser to the church, helped convince Brown that the Catholic Church should purchase the property.
The Busch Firm helped orchestrate a purchase of the site by Catholic Diocese of Orange for $57.5 million in 2011. The campus includes 35 acres, seven buildings, and 340,000 square feet of building space.
Air Conditioning
Renovations at Christ Cathedral included the installation of air conditioning and elevators, and the capability to broadcast church services across the EWTN Global Catholic Television Network.
Heim, who has overseen billions of dollars of projects for Clark Construction, one of the largest construction firms with operations in OC, said he was able to reduce costs by omitting certain features many worshippers apparently wouldn’t miss; he wouldn’t disclose specifically which amenities he was referring to.
“It was an architectural icon even before we began work,” Heim said. “We have [installed] better acoustics, better climate control, enhanced the art and reinforced the area for the next 100 years.”
The Catholic Church is celebrating the change from Crystal Cathedral to Christ Cathedral with a week’s worth of events this month.
“It’s the carrying on of a legacy that was begun before us,” said the Rev. Christopher Smith, a priest at the new Christ Cathedral.
The Christ Cathedral Players
Numerous prominent OC executives helped make the Christ Cathedral a reality. Here are a few:
• Tim Psomas, former chair of the board for engineering firm Psomas, chaired the Christ Cathedral Master Planning Committee. Los Angeles-based Psomas, which has an office in Santa Ana, is regularly on the Business Journal’s lists for top engineering and environmental consulting firms.
• Rand Sperry, chief executive of Sperry Commercial Global Affiliates and Sperry Equities, chaired the Christ Cathedral Facilities Corp. Sperry’s companies have bought, sold, and leased millions of square feet of commercial properties.
• Richard Heim, division president and chief executive of Clark Construction Group’s Western region, chaired the Cathedral Construction Advisory Committee. The Clark Group is the third-biggest construction company on the Business Journal’s annual list, reporting $783 million in revenue from OC operations in 2018.
• Tim and Susan Strader chaired the Christ Cathedral Campaign Task Force, which worked with the Diocese and the Orange Catholic Foundation to raise the funds needed to complete Christ Cathedral’s renovation. Tim has more than 40 years of experience in real estate development and entitlement. The couple, who have been married for more than 50 years, helped found Santa Margarita Catholic High School.
• Annette Walker, president of City of Hope Orange County, chaired the Diocesan Finance Council, which was responsible for advising the bishop on the management of Diocese finances, including the approval of all material spending.
• Rob Neal, managing partner of Hager Pacific Properties in Newport Beach, an industrial real estate firm, served as a member of the architectural and renovations committee for the campus.
• Steve Muzzy, managing director at MZ Partners, chaired the Orange Catholic Foundation, an autonomous charitable corporation that raises, manages, grows and grants funds according to donor intent to support the mission of the Catholic Church throughout the Diocese of Orange. MZ Partners, which is a family office, focuses on real estate and late stage private equity investments.
All Those Windows and Only 72 Degrees
If visiting the Christ Cathedral, here are some details to consider on the renovation:
• The 78,000-square foot Christ Cathedral required over 11 million pounds of scaffolding to reach the interior glass walls, which reach a height of 128 feet, or as tall as a 12-story building.
Each of the cathedral’s 11,000 glass windows was resurfaced. The new glass panels are all UV resistant and will keep the interior of the Cathedral at 72 degrees, according to Greg McClure, the Snyder Langston superintendent who oversaw the renovation.
• Each of its 10-foot doors weigh over 7,000 pounds. The Festal Doors, also known as the Bishop’s Doors at the entrance, now have bronze artwork created by sculptor Pablo Eduardo, who works out of a studio in Gloucester, Mass. The artwork on the doors themselves begins with the creation of the world, and the creation of humanity in the persons of Adam and Eve. The story continues with their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
• About $2.7 million was invested into renovating the site’s famous Hazel Wright organ, which has 16,000 pipes, was taken apart and sent to Italy where they were refurbished. Then it was rebuilt. The largest pipe of the organ weighs 900 pounds while “the littlest one can fit in your top pocket,” said Richard Heim, a veteran contractor who chaired the committee that oversaw the restoration.
The organ is named after Mrs. Hazel Wright, a regular viewer of Robert Schuller’s “Hour of Power” worship show who donated $2 million for the instrument, which is affectionately referred to as “Hazel.”
“Tuning will last well into the year,” Heim said. “It takes 5 months for those pipes to be re-voiced.”
The Cathedral will only be open for certain weekend masses until the organ is fully installed and voiced. It’s expected to be open daily next February.
