Image courtesy of LYF Architects

A Catholic church in Somersworth would be sold if a developer can get approval for an apartment complex on the site.

Project proponents presented a conceptual plan for a 167-unit, H-shaped, mixed-use building in a “contemporary farmhouse” style with surface parking to the Somersworth Planning Board Nov. 19.

Board members were generally effusive in their praise for the project. The project will need a zoning variance in addition to Planning Board approval.

The conceptual plan showed around 7,000 square feet of commercial space across three units, up to two of which might be cafes or “bistros” the development team said, and the building would include some workforce housing units.

Representatives from developer Argos Development Company, based in the northern Boston suburb of Danvers, told city officials during a public meeting last month they have a purchase-and-sale agreement with the Manchester Diocese to buy Holy Trinity Church at 404 High St.

The development team said it chose to pivot from a grocery-anchored retail complex to a residential-focused project thanks to the city’s “plentiful” amount of existing commercial space and the city master plan, which calls for significantly more housing development.

The church building, one of three in the St. Ignatius of Loyola Parish, was put up for sale after a congregation-led, long-term planning study, Foster’s Daily Democrat reported. It’s only about a mile from one of the parish’s other churches, St. Martin Church, which is receiving millions of dollars in renovations and upgrades.