Costa Mesa’s Christ Lutheran Church nearing finish of $5.4-million renovation
The Rev. Mike Gibson shows how Christ Lutheran Church and School in Costa Mesa is renovating former offices into new preschool classrooms. The work is part of the church’s multiyear, $5.4-million renovation project that is expected to be finished in April.
Christ Lutheran Church and School in Westside Costa Mesa is in the midst of a multiyear, $5.4-million renovation project that includes new security measures and additional classrooms.
The 4.4-acre campus at 760 Victoria St. serves about 1,000 congregants and has a school for preschool through eighth grade.
“We’re healthy. We’re young. We’re growing,” said the Rev. Mike Gibson, Christ Lutheran’s lead pastor since 2006. He said the renovations are completely funded by the congregation through two major fundraising campaigns, which helped the church avoid taking on debt.
A new tot lot is part of Christ Lutheran Church and School’s $5.4-million renovation project, expected to be completed in April.
“We’re pretty wowed by it,” Gibson said.
The work is expected to be completed by mid-April.
Christ Lutheran’s renovations began in 2009 with a $1.7-million first phase that included infrastructure repairs and construction of the church’s Fireside Room, a meeting space for about 80 people. The room opened the following year.
In June, the $3.75-million second phase began. A major element of it involves remodeling the church’s first building, which dates to the 1950s, from its former use as an office space into a new preschool wing with an adjacent tot lot.
Once finished, the preschool will have six classrooms instead of three. The expansion, Gibson said, will allow Christ Lutheran to enroll children as young as 18 months this fall.
A contractor installs a new closed-circuit camera at Christ Lutheran Church and School in Costa Mesa. Added security measures are part of the church’s ongoing renovations.
The second phase also includes construction of a 6,000-square-foot, two-story administration building — which opened in December — and installing air conditioning for the church’s sanctuary, built in 1966.
Gibson said parents will appreciate the school’s added security measures, including new fencing, card-reader access to the security gates, parking lot lighting and closed-circuit cameras.
“We want parents to have that level of confidence,” Gibson said.
The church hired Newport Beach-based J7 Architecture and Irvine-based Redhawk Builders for the projects.
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Bradley Zint, bradley.zint@latimes.com
Twitter: @BradleyZint
