Orangewood Presbyterian Church and Orangewood Christian School plan to makeover their Maitland Boulevard campus, adding a new sanctuary and new STEM labs among other changes.
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They received approval from the city of Maitland last month and hope to break ground later this year. The project is expected to take 18 to 24 months to complete, according to GrowthSpotter.
The green light from the city marks a key milestone for the institution’s Generations Initiative, a capital program launched in 2023 as Orangewood began planning for its 50th anniversary this year.
An 814-seat sanctuary and theater is the project’s centerpiece. Designed to function as a hybrid worship center and performing arts hall, the space will feature acoustic wall treatments, integrated theatrical lighting rigs, and modern audio-visual arrays to support everything from Sunday services to school plays, musical concerts, and community events.
The 63,950-square-foot addition will also include youth ministry facilities, church administrative suites, and dedicated classrooms for Sunday school and adult discipleship, all connecting through a soaring, open-concept lobby that will serve as a central gathering hub for the campus.
Patrick Rauch of Schenkel Shultz told GrowthSpotter that particular attention was paid to how natural light could be channeled into the building and that natural wood plays a prominent role in the interior.
Up to this point, the church has made creative use of its space by converting its campus gymnasium into a formal sanctuary setting to host Sunday worship services, school chapels, and seasonal events.
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The new sanctuary will give Orangewood a dedicated home for its church ministry, thereby reserving the gymnasium for full-time athletic use by the school, which enrolls about 900 students in pre-K through 12th grade. Its upper school campus is on Maitland Boulevard and its lower school is located about a mile away.
Sharing a single indoor gym between varsity, JV, and middle school volleyball practices, basketball programs, and physical education classes has meant navigating constant teardowns, staging setups, and floor coverings to protect the court for weekend services. Now the school will have dedicated space for its athletic teams.
In addition to the athletic and worship upgrades, the expansion adds four classrooms, an expanded administrative office suite, and four hands-on STEM labs for students. Security updates will also introduce a single point of entry to manage campus access.
The total budget for the project is estimated at $35 million, according to campaign updates shared with the church community. To fund the expansion while keeping debt low, Orangewood launched its multiyears capital campaign with an original goal of raising $15 million, which was later bumped to $17.5 million as construction costs increased. The church secured over $12 million in initial pledges during its kickoff campaign, followed by an additional $2 million raised during subsequent fundraising pushes, with the remaining balance being raised through ongoing congregational giving and long-term financing.
While the new two-story structure will be built on an open area of the site, crews will also remodel existing interior spaces and tie the new addition into the current building layout. The team will place three temporary modular classrooms on site for up to four years to serve as swing space during the renovations.
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