St. Agnes Catholic Church leaders are looking to consecrate a new church building on Key Biscayne later this year, with the building going into service thereafter.

“In six months or so we will consecrate the new church,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski tweeted this weekend. The tweet included a picture of him with Fathers Juan Carlos Paguaga and Andrzej R. Foltyn outside the new building that is nearing completion.

The existing parish church is almost 70 years old, and it can’t handle the number of parishioners and other needs. When the current building was constructed in 1954, it had been intended to be a temporary facility until a bigger church could be built.

In its nearly seven decades of service, St. Agnes has baptized more than 5,000 babies and married more than 1,000 couples, the Florida Catholic says.

The building project has been going on for a couple of years and extends beyond just a church. It includes a multipurpose center and a building for young students at St. Agnes Academy (which has been open about a year). The facilities are on a 7-acre site, with about 34,000 square feet of space, the Islander News reported.

One of the reasons for the new building, as opposed to renovating the existing one, is to increase capacity. Islander News says the church building itself will be able to handle 600 people, up from 398 currently. The project includes more parking, wheelchair-accessible bathrooms, and a cry room for young children. St. Agnes Academy houses children from preschool through grade 3 in the new education building that features a religion room, and an additional lab. The gymnasium will be use by the academy and will also serve as a venue for educational, religious and social events.