Lakewood Business Takes Over Abandoned Church

Talk about reusing an old space.

The former church is now the new home of .

Where there were once rows of metal folding chairs on mauve carpet, there will be desks on refinished hardwood floors.

“I wanted to bring back the original delight of this building,” said Mike Daso, who runs the financial consulting business.

He’s keeping the stained-glass windows and some of the building’s original artifacts, including an old church bell.

The high ceilings, with original wood beams, are also staying.

“It’s not a CVS,” Daso said, referring to the to make way for the pharmacy. “This is a unique opportunity to repurpose this space.”

AXA Advisors is moving from a 100-year-old house at 15522 Madison Avenue.

Daso said that 2011 was his company's “best year” yet and plans are in the works to grow the business. 

Right now, there are three employees, but he hopes to add four more.

“If I’ve got eight employees, I don’t want walls in the workspace,” he said.

There are no plans to pave over the large front lawn to make way for a parking lot. And all the trees are staying.

The idea, he said, is to keep his business “low impact,” considering is located across the street.

Daso and AXA Advisors are hosting an open house and a ribbon-cutting event at the new location from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday.

“This is an excellent example of repurposing a place of worship into working office space,” said Patty Ryan, the executive director of the .