![\"Citylight](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/citylight-church.jpg#.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nIf you drive up and down Main Street in Philadelphia’s Manayunk neighborhood, you are no stranger to this historic building.<\/p>\n
Flooded by Hurricane Ida back in September 2021, it’s been renovated, revamped and transformed into Citylight Church.<\/p>\n
Lead Pastor Matt Cohen says seeing his vision come to life brings him joy.<\/p>\n
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CBS News Philadelphia<\/p>\n
“This building was wrecked by Hurricane Ida, and that’s why we had an opportunity to purchase it. And so, it was the opportunity, but also it’s this location,” said Cohen.<\/p>\n
Cohen says he dreamed of this.<\/p>\n
He and his wife started the church out of their one-bedroom apartment in Roxborough in the summer of 2011.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to now, they have a packed house and a place they can call their permanent home while planting roots in Northwest Philly.<\/p>\n
It’s been a long time coming to get this up and running. This weekend, Citylight Church is having its grand opening with services on Sunday at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.<\/p>\n
“A once dilapidated, historic building now beautiful, with hundreds of people coming in every week,” he said.<\/p>\n
Knowing the building’s history of flooding, they had to come up with a game plan to battle it and thrive for decades to come.<\/p>\n
“And if we are going to do that, well then the building needs to be able to function for decades to come,” Cohen said. “So the first floor, all that can be there is what can get wet, so we turned that into parking.”<\/p>\n
Cohen says opening the church in Manayunk is a blessing, and they have been welcomed and supported by the community.<\/p>\n
They say everyone is welcome to join in.<\/p>\n
“We want this to be a building that the entire neighborhood can be proud of, can say, ‘I am so thankful they rehabilitated that building,'” he added.<\/p>\n
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