By Patrick McGroarty
News Editor

The Vietnamese American Initiative for Development (Viet-AID), a non-profit developer headquartered in Fields Corner, is in the final stages of completing a deal to purchase the St. William's church from Blessed Mother Teresa parish and the Archdiocese of Boston.

The impending sale, confirmed by several sources close to the process, is the latest stage in a saga that began when St. William's church was ordered to close by the archdiocese in 2004. According to sources that include members of the parish council, the council narrowed a field of four bidders down to a split-vote between two finalists. Father Paul Soper, the parish's pastor, made the final decision.

Soper confirmed that he had selected a developer after a vote by the 20-member council resulted in a tie, but declined to comment further because a purchase and sales agreement has not been completed.

The deal is also dependent on the approval of two boards within the Archdiocese of Boston, said Terry Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese. Both boards are expected to meet later this month.

"We don't have a signed agreement, and I can't really comment until we do," said Donilon.

That Viet-AID would purchase the site is especially symbolic because Vietnamese Catholics were one of the main groups affected by the parish's subsequent merger with neighboring St. Margaret's, which was also suppressed in the creation of Blessed Mother Teresa parish.

According to sources, the preliminary proposal that Viet-AID provided with their bid involved razing the church to make way for a mixed-use development with first-floor commercial space along Dorchester Avenue and residential units above and to the rear.

The other final bid was said to be a similar proposal from private developer Doug George.

The selling price was unknown. Last spring, the Codman Company estimated the value of the 40,000 square-foot parcel to be around $3 million. At the urging of the community, Soper stated then that the parish would not exclusively pursue the highest bidder. A willingness to work with the community after purchasing the property was seen as a prerequisite for any potential buyer.

The fate of St. William's has been particularly emotional because of the parish's uniquely embattled history. The original church at 1048 Dorchester Avenue burned down in 1980 and re-built within three years. A Dorchester-based fire fund raised more than $500,000 to help rebuild the structure.

The re-development would also be significant because of the project's sheer size. News of this agreement comes at a moment when the influential Columbia-Savin Hill Civic Association is in the midst of revamping its bylaws and electing new officers. As such, the association will not take any new business until 2007. Nevertheless, neighbors say they are eager to work with a developer to assure that the new project fits into the streetscape.

"There's enough leadership in that neighborhood to deal with problems and come out okay said Bill Walczak, a Savin Hill resident. Big issues in that neighborhood do not slip by, they are dealt with," said Walczak.

A parish council member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he was impressed by the quality of workmanship at other Viet-AID developments.

"It is very important to me that the community has continued input on what the project will look like when it's done, because it's going to be there forever," he said.

Soper said last week that the purchase and sale would likely be finalized in a matter of weeks, at which point the details of the sale will be made public.

If the sale is completed as expected, Saint William will become the second former Catholic parish to change hands in Dorchester in the last year. In February 2006, Catholic Charities sold the former Saint Leo's parish campus on Bicknell Street to a South End-based Pentecostal congregation for $2 million.