Temple Construction Progress Update
(current as of 3/21/17)
Current Temple Status: 155 operating; 4 scheduled
for dedication; 7 under
construction; 3 more
have construction pending, but all of them are anticipated to commence
construction before (or at least by) the start of Summer 2017; 1 scheduled
for rededication; 2 undergoing renovation; 2 renovations scheduled; 8 announced. NOTE: With
two groundbreakings having already taken place this year, the chances are very
good that we will see several others also have a groundbreaking in 2017, and,
where I feel comfortable in doing so, I have now provided a window in which I
am estimating that future groundbreakings for announced temples will take
place.
Dedication scheduled:
156. Paris France
Temple: Plaza water features operational; accepting
reservations for public open house (which will run from Saturday April
22-Saturday May 13 (excluding the Sundays of April 23 and 30 and May 7)); dedication
scheduled for Sunday May 21, 2017.
157. Tucson
Arizona Temple: Additional lighting tests underway; accepting
reservations for public open house beginning Monday May 15, 2017; (which will
run from Saturday June 3-Saturday June 24 (excluding the Sundays of June 4, 11,
and 18)); dedication scheduled for Sunday
August 13, 2017.
158. Meridian
Idaho Temple: Monument sign installed; interior
work underway; dedication scheduled for Sunday November 19, 2017.
159. Cedar
City Utah Temple: Installing glass; hanging drywall on interior; dedication
scheduled for Sunday December 10, 2017.
Under Construction:
160. Rome Italy Temple:
Interior work progressing; completion anticipated sometime during early-to-mid
2018.
161. Kinshasa
Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple: Making concrete pours for window
openings and to seal tops of concrete block walls; completion anticipated
sometime during early-to-mid 2018.
NOTE: For the two temples above,
they seem to be interchangeable in terms of which one might potentially be
completed and dedicated first. I am trying to keep an eye on any and all developments
and will adjust their listings as necessary once more is known.
162. Barranquilla
Colombia Temple: Steel framework for cupola installed; waterproofing membrane
attached to exterior walls; completion anticipated sometime during mid-2018.
163. Concepcion Chile
Temple: Exterior cladding progressing on north wall; planting palm trees on
west side; monument sign poured; waterproofing membrane attached to east wall; completion
anticipated sometime during mid-to-late 2018.
164. Durban South Africa Temple:
Setting rebar and concrete forms for temple exterior walls; completion
anticipated sometime during mid-to-late 2018.
NOTE: For the two temples above,
they seem to be interchangeable in terms of which one might potentially be
completed and dedicated first. I am trying to keep an eye on any and all
developments and will adjust their listings as necessary once more is known.
165. Fortaleza Brazil
Temple: completion anticipated sometime during early-to-mid 2019.
167. Lisbon Portugal
Temple: Excavation completed for temple foundation; structural framing
going up for meetinghouse; completion anticipated sometime during mid-to-late 2019.
Construction pending:
166. Winnipeg Manitoba
Temple: Groundbreaking held Saturday December 3, 2016; awaiting commencement of
full-scale operations, which may occur in April or May 2017 (construction
currently delayed by a very bad Canadian winter); completion anticipated
sometime during early-to-mid 2019.
NOTE: Once construction commences,
it is anticipated to last around 20 months (approximately 1.67 years.) It is a
smaller edifice that is being built to at the moment serve just the one stake
in Manitoba. So it might be completed sooner than that. It all depends on how
soon construction will be able to start, and how quickly it progresses after
that.
168. Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple: Groundbreaking
held Saturday March 4, 2017; awaiting
commencement of full-scale operations (which is anticipated ASAP); completion
anticipated sometime during mid-2019.
NOTE: Once construction commences,
it is anticipated to last around 24 months (2 years) in view of it being the one
and only building on the project.
169.
Arequipa Peru Temple: Groundbreaking held Saturday March 4, 2017; awaiting
commencement of full-scale operations (which is anticipated ASAP); completion
anticipated sometime during late 2019-early
2020.
NOTE: Once construction commences,
it is anticipated to take roughly 28 months (2.25 years) to complete. This is
because there are neighboring construction projects involved that will all be worked
on simultaneously.
Rededication Scheduled:
8. Idaho Falls Idaho
Temple: Closed for renovation; accepting reservations for public open house beginning
Monday April 3, 2017; rededication scheduled for Sunday June 4, 2017.
Undergoing Renovation:
20. Jordan River Utah
Temple: Closed for renovation; rededication anticipated sometime during early-to-mid 2018.
41. Frankfurt Germany
Temple: Closed for renovation; some exterior stone removed; foundation exposed;
old meetinghouse razed; rededication anticipated sometime during early-to
mid-2018.
Renovation Scheduled:
13. Oakland California Temple: Scheduled to
close for renovation in February 2018; rededication anticipated sometime during
mid-to-late 2019.
16. Washington D. C. Temple: Scheduled to close
for renovation in March 2018; rededication anticipated sometime during early-to-mid
2020.
NOTE: In view of the fact that we
have already had two temple groundbreaking events so far this year, it is entirely
possible that we might see site announcements and groundbreakings for other
temples in the near future. That said, it is interesting to consider that,
while some of those groundbreakings might be more likely than others,
ultimately, it is more difficult than I originally believed to try and pinpoint
how soon those groundbreakings are likely to take place. Wanting to be as
conservative in my estimates as I am able to be, I have adjusted some things.
As always, I would be gratified to hear of such events happening much sooner
than anyone expects. But for the moment, it seems wise to make some
adjustments. Thanks.
Announced:
170. Harare Zimbabwe
Temple: Approval and construction preparation phase; site announcement and
groundbreaking anticipated sometime later this year.
NOTE: While
the site announcement for this temple has been anticipated since the president
of the Church’s Africa Southeast area to the possibility that it would happen sometime
this year. While I would love to see a site announced just before, sometime
during, or shortly after General Conference and to see a groundbreaking happen
sometime between the dedication of the Paris France Temple and the rededication
of the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple, I am not as confident as I once was in
predicting that it will happen within that time frame. I will be more
conservative, therefore, and say that whenever we do have a site announcement,
the groundbreaking could take place sometime between mid-and-late 2017.
171. Port-au-Prince
Haiti Temple: Planning and approval phase; temple site confirmed; groundbreaking
not announced.
NOTE: On
Sunday March 12, while presiding at a stake conference for the area in which
the first Haitian temple will be built, Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of
the Twelve Apostles officially announced and confirmed that, just as members in
the area had speculated, the plot of land behind an existing meetinghouse on
the Route de Freres (French for “The Route of Brothers”) had been purchased as
the official site for the first Haitian temple. While such site announcements
generally signal that a groundbreaking might shortly follow, there is reason to
believe that it will take the Church at least a year to plan and design the
edifice to conform to government regulations and to be acceptable to the
locals. It therefore makes sense to adjust my estimate here and to say that a
groundbreaking could happen by early-to-mid
2018.
172. Bangkok Thailand
Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.
NOTE: There
is more than sufficient reason to believe the current speculation being
perpetuated to the effect that, in the mold of the already-existing
multi-purpose buildings that house not only an office building but a
meetinghouse and a temple as well (they are now known as the Hong Kong China
and Manhattan New York Temples), a similar renovation and rebuilding might
happen to a Church-owned office building in Bangkok. If it happens that way, we
could see construction there commence with a groundbreaking by early-to-mid 2018 as well.
173. Lima Peru Los
Olivos Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.
NOTE: This
temple is the last of the four announced in 2016, and is unique already for two
reasons: First, this temple will make Lima Peru the third city in the world to
have a second temple announced. The other two are in Utah: South Jordan and
Provo. Second the name for this second temple for the capital city of Peru is
Los Olivos, and that there is a Los Olivos district in Lima, which gives us
some indication as to the general area in which this temple will be built.
These facts are sufficient grounds to surmise that this temple is ahead of the
others listed below that were announced first. Considering all of this leads me
to conclude that we could see a groundbreaking held for this temple sometime
during mid-2018, if not indeed
before.
174. Abidjan Ivory
Coast Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.
NOTE: The
growth in Cote d’Ivoire has really taken off in the last several years. It is
interesting to note that, even though this first Ivory Coast temple has not yet
had a site announcement or groundbreaking, the astonish.ing growth developments
that are ongoing have led some to speculate that the Ivory Coa.st could have
another temple or two announced at some point before the first one is completed.
Time will tell. In the meantime, it seems more than likely that construction
could comm.0.ence on this first one with a groundbreaking ceremony held
sometime during mid-to-late 2018.
175. Quito Ecuador
Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.
NOTE:
Ecuador’s second temple is set to be built in that nation’s capital city. The
new temple was announced around 33 years after the first Ecuadoran temple in
Guayaquil. The time intervening between the announcement of that temple and
when it was actually dedicated still stands as the longest such period in
Church history. It is my personal hope that the second temple for this nation
will not be subjected to so many delays. Given how much the Church has expanded
throughout South America of late, I will venture my estimate that we could see
a groundbreaking for this temple sometime during late 2018-early 2019.
176. Belem Brazil
Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.
NOTE: Because
Brazil ranks as one of the very fastest growing nations in terms of the
Church’s presence there, the announcement of the ninth temple in Brazil brings
it closer than any other nation to the number of operating temples in Utah.
(The December dedication already scheduled in Cedar City will bring the number
of Utah temples to 17, which means that Brazil is more than halfway there. If
there is any merit at all into what I have heard about possible future temple
sites for Brazil, the number of Brazilian temples could increase by at least
five within the next 15-20 years or so, and perhaps more than that may be under
active consideration right now. Getting back to the Belem temple, construction
might officially be underway there sometime during early-to-mid 2019, which would ensure that Brazil would continue to
have two temples simultaneously under construction for the foreseeable future.
177. Urdaneta
Philippines Temple: Stalled in planning and approval phase; awaiting
official site iannouncement.
NOTE: While
the fact that this temple is technically ahead of those above by virtue of it
being in the planning and approval phase, it has been almost 6.5 years since
this temple was announced. That is a most significant delay. As noted above on
the listing for the Quito Ecuador temple, the first Ecuadoran temple (built in
the city of Guayquil) is remembered for being the temple that had the longest
known interval in Church history between its announcement and its
groundbreaking (a time period that spanned 14 years, 4 months, and 10 days,
which rounded to the nearest hundredth of a year is 14.36. It is my sincere
hope and belief that we will never again see such a lengthy period of time
between any other site announcement and groundbreaking. All going well, I could
definitely see a groundbreaking for the Urdaneta temple somewhere around mid-to-late 2019, if not before.
NOTE: Given how much progress we
have seen with temples recently, it is not hard to believe that we will see
many more temples announced in the near future. There have been reports of several
cities that have already had a site purchased already. These four have been
identified by name: Managua Nicaragua, Port Moresby Papua New Guinea,
Bentonville Arkansas, and Missoula Montana. If other potential temples have had
a site purchased, they have yet to be identified as such. As the apostles
travel, they sometimes have felt impressed to publicly propose a temple for the
areas they visit. Such temples have been proposed in New Delhi India (in June
1992 by Elder Neal A. Maxwell; may not be likely due to the prevailing
political and religious obstacles to such an edifice); Vilnius Lithuania (in
May 1993 by Elder M. Russell Ballard); Nairobi Kenya (in February 1998 by
President Gordon B. Hinckley; this temple might have an official announcement
within the next year or so, as Kenya ranks as the 10th of the top
ten countries with the most Church members without a temple); Maracaibo
Venezuela (in August 1999 by President Hinckley); Singapore (in January 2000 by
President Hinckley); for the Southwest Salt Lake Valley (in October 2005 by
President Hinckley; NOTE: While some contend that this temple announcement has
already happened, verifiable sources widely available prove otherwise); Managua
Nicaragua (in January 2012 by then-Elder Russell M. Nelson; the fact that it
has not only been publicly proposed but has had a site purchased for it makes
it very likely; it is also the 1st of the top ten countries with the
largest LDS presence without a temple); Missoula Montana (sometime in 2014 by
Elder David A. Bednar; while the report of this proposal has yet to be
verified, the fact that there has been a purchase of a temple site seems to
indicate that it is a most imminent possibility); and for the Kasai Region in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (in February 2016 by Elder Neil L.
Andersen). I have heard many reports of several more temple sites being
procured, but the nature of those reports are such that they have yet to be
verified.
Key:
Bolded numbers and text denote
temples whose numbers already exists (for renovations), or is certain due to a
scheduled dedication, as well as information that is certain, such as
dedication or groundbreaking dates.
Italicized numbers and
text denote temples whose numbers may change based on the order in
which future dedications and groundbreakings are scheduled.
Underlined numbers and text denote
temples whose numbers may change based on progress towards planning, approval,
and groundbreaking.
Red
text denotes changes from the last posted temple progress report.
