I somewhat doubt that when this place was built it was originally occupied by the “Church of Divine Man Spiritual Teaching Center.”
It does have all the features of a classic church building though.
A big stained-glass window…
A full-on sanctuary…
Even a run-down church office.
I’m not sure if anyone told the congregation at the Spiritual Teaching Center about this sale, because their website seems to indicate business as usual with Meditation, Healing, Clairvoyance, and Kundalini Classes all still humming along.
$625,000 and it’s yours. Of course if you’re going to buy it the clairvoyant sellers probably already know, so no need to call your real estate agent. The seller’s agent will call you.
Ya know, if their website doesn’t know the place is for sale, I’d say their clairvoyance classes aren’t worth the money. And in the grand tradition of a self-fulfilling prophecy, maybe that’s why it’s for sale. But I’m not saying these folks aren’t legit (I have no idea if they are or not), because I’ve personally learned a hell of a lot (for the better) in places like this, whether in an old church, an alternative spirituality supply shop, or at twice-yearly retreats. They don’t usually give you the prepackaged-just-pop-open-and-use religion that some churches offer, but for those wishing to seek and explore their personal connection to the divine they can be quite helpful. BTW, if a place like this does try to pawn off one of those prepackaged religions… RUN. Anyone saying they have all the answers ain’t nothin’ but a cult.
Well, back to the listing… It seems a decent enough structure; even most of the meeting rooms look much nicer than the “run down” office above, with its nasty carpet stain. Why, the break room not only has a microwave, it has a fireplace! Of course any masonry building in an earthquake/volcano zone needs a thorough professional inspection. But if it’s good to go, why not? It could be useful for all sorts of organizations (given its current occupants don’t stay). One caveat – there seem to be only 6-8 off-street parking spaces, although the street fronting the building looks to have parallel parking on both sides, as well as a concrete wall separating one side from the interstate below.
I do wish they had some interior shots of the accompanying “house,” which I assume is the former parsonage. It looks a bit bigger than all but one of the nearby homes, which presumably date to the 1920s along with the church. If it’s all in decent shape it would make a nice owner-occupant place for the right sort of business.
I’m thinking these folks are renting – and that they’ve about worn out the concept of “Residential zoning” and, perhaps, of “paying the rent”… hence their blissful ignorance of the listing.
There are some challenges and opportunities here (not least for the long-suffering neighbors). Em, I’m afraid we did see the inside of the parsonage; it’s been gutted/furbished into those classrooms and offices: the lister has gamely characterized them as living room and bedrooms; we’ll pass lightly over the institutional bathrooms. I expect the still-charming back stoop pictured exits the still-recognizable kitchen… but the rest is simply not coming back to original use.
This property would make a wonderful senior center and/or adult day care facility: It retains a nice sense of repose and would offer community service, honor of history, and peace for the neighbors… who, if they have not already obtained a zoning restraint on the topic, must be in mortal terror of a child care erupting in there.
Well, it definitely needs some work. Look at that roof at the very least. Sleepy, long-lasting congregations are not the stuff churches are made of these days and I don’t see a new one being planted in this space. Zoning for business is an issue and it’s about too small for a private school to overcome overhead costs enough to be viable. Unless someone was willing to invest the capital to renovate it into a quirky residence guaranteed to raise the property values in the neighborhood, it’s not going to be good for much.
I like Em’s suggestion of a senior center, but I don’t see it happening privately. The city would need to come in and flatten out the place for wheelchairs and walkers and turn it into a civic organization.
@Frodo: I like the suggestion, too, but credit for that goes to Anodean. :)
@Anodean: I suppose it’s possible we’re seeing some of the house interiors, but not the kitchen isn’t one of them. If you look out the window shown in Pic 17 you’ll see a cream colored house with rusty red trim around the windows, the parsonage. The house just past the parsonage has the same coloring, but not this same window layout on the appropriate side. Use street view to check it out. Seeing the house beyond the parsonage is easy enough (there’s an alley between them), but to see the side of the parsonage in question you need to be “standing” directly across from the center of the side of the church. Otherwise, there’s a big evergreen in the way. If you get placed just right, though, you’ll see the window layout seen from Pic 17. It’s on the parsonage.
I’m betting the bulk of the class/meeting rooms are in the wing of the church proper seen to the left of the entry door shown in Pic 1, as well as below the sanctuary. An aerial satellite view at google maps, zoomed in, shows it’s a pretty big building. One reason for the group rooms being in the main building is to minimize liability coverage on the old parsonage.
I do like your idea of a senior center, although the ADA requirements might be a problem, especially for spots like the one shown in Pic 8. The little kids would love it, but, as you said, the neighbors won’t love them. I hope something can be done with the place, as tearing it down to build a home might not sell either, what with the interstate being a mere 50′ outside the front door.
@Emerald63: That should read:
“…but the kitchen isn’t one of them”
NOT
“…but not the kitchen isn’t one of them”
@Frodo: Ah! Both Emerald and your observations are superior to mine – the place is indeed two structures, each bigger than I had thought… and the puzzle was solved when I went to the map to see what had become of the parking lot, because there had to have been one. Once.
According to the listing, this is the first time this property has been offered for sale. This would imply that the organization first sold off the rest of the long triangular block for development (some time ago, by the look), retaining the piece with the buildings… which was likely grandfathered for religious use so long as they owned it, but constrained to revert to residential use once sold.
Oops. As you both ably point out, that was always going to be one heck of a tough sale – not least because it would mean surrendering the last of their identity. So I’m thinking that they’ve avoided the hard realities by renting the church building to ventures that could fly grandfathered and the parsonage to a residential tenant… for about as long as the neighboring houses have existed.
Beside both your able questions about pictures and proper maintenance, a careful buyer needs to ask “What has happened to make them finally sell?”
@Anodean: Anodean, sorry for mis-attributing your great idea to Em.
“What happened to make them finally sell?”
I don’t know for sure, but I live in the buckle of the Bible belt and have seen some churches of various sizes leave their buildings. There are a few reasons why this happens:
A) The church dies for whatever reason. Usually it’s not a good reason. If the church was owned by the denomination it could be the denomination that has been renting the building out. If a congregational church dies (a congregational church is self-owned), it usually goes on the market right away. No organization remains to rent the building out. (Churches with graveyards that die are like zombie properties. Who wants to buy a graveyard?)
B) The church merges with another congregation. Everyone hears about church splits, but sometimes churches merge. So the new church meets elsewhere but owns the property and rents it out until the council or deacon board decides it’s better to sell.
C) The church outgrows it’s location. Usually a church will sell the old property immediately once they are settled in the new location, but it’s possible that they rented out to another group or even started the other group as a tangential ministry. In this case, they may not have updated the web site with the information yet.
@Frodo: Ah, then… (no problem!) the sale would signify the healthy moving onward in some sense, which is the best one may hope.
I don’t know how different groups provide (or hope to provide) for an aging pastor in such circumstances, but it occurred to me that lifetime residence in the parsonage once the parking lot was sold to settle operating debts might have been the best they could do… and as there looks no way those two buildings could be divided for separate sale… hold ’em and rent the church.
If so, this listing might be happening because that aged person (or their surviving spouse) have lately passed (or entered a care facility), in which case the parsonage is likely in a sensitive situation and not ready for pictures.
So many of life’s stories are people just doing the best they can figure to do. :)