Parkview Church at 641 S. Oak Park Ave. is for sale, and its listing agent says there’s a good art to promoting a property of worship. Matt Messier, principal of spiritual, training and not-for-revenue serious estate at Foundry Business, states that encouraging church buildings obtain consumers has been his family’s enterprise for around 50 decades.
Messier’s household bought its commence in the church-offering business enterprise with his father in Detroit. A Korean War veteran, the elder Messier was performing in residential true estate when his relatives church merged with a different congregation. He was requested to tackle the sale of the additional setting up.
The rest is background. Messier ended up providing additional churches around the several years, and his sons carry on the company. Based in Detroit and Orlando, the three brothers help market place church buildings nationwide.
Matt Messier estimates that he’s offered much more than 3,000 church buildings throughout the state during his job and at the very least 15 in the Chicago space in the earlier yr. He normally performs with a unique denomination’s headquarters in city and is promoting Oak Park’s Parkview Church for the Chicago Presbytery, which owns the residence.
“The variance in between a church and a business developing is crystal clear from the seller’s perspective,” Messier mentioned. “Lots of moments, there’s just so considerably emotion tied to the constructing. There have been baptisms, weddings, to start with communions there. There’s a kind of sacredness to that home that you could not find with other individuals.”
Roughly 75 percent of Messier’s listings market to another church, which will keep on to use the making as worship area. The other 25 p.c are generally redeveloped. No matter whether people properties are turned into condominiums, renovated to some other use or torn down depends on a amount of factors, like the location.
Zoning criteria
Parkview Church is positioned in a household district. Like a large amount of more mature churches, there is no parking ton incorporated with the constructing for the reason that it was built as a neighborhood church wherever parishioners would wander to products and services. It is also surrounded by single-relatives properties and is throughout the avenue from Fox Park.
Messier claims Parkview has a ton likely for it.
“It’s a nice creating with lovely stained glass,” he mentioned. “That uniqueness and that place across the street from the park will spark a large amount of thoughts.”
He states he’s experienced five to 6 showings of the home on some times, and several distinctive functions are expressing interest, which includes builders.
“There’s what the house is and what the residence could be,” Messier stated.
He generally factors fascinated events to municipality to see what is achievable within existing laws, contacting zoning “super critical.”
Parkview Church is surrounded by solitary-household homes, and Messier thinks it is unlikely that a village would spot-zone one thing in a household location for professional use. In other spots that could possibly do the job effectively.
Outside the house of Oak Park, he has noticed 1 church rehabbed into workplaces for an architectural organization. A further current sale is likely to be renovated in a 55-and-older community.
Transforming church desires
Messier claims that even pre-pandemic, some churches ended up observing their congregations dwindle and that COVID-19 drove an enhance in on the web solutions, which in some places resulted in decreased in-particular person attendance.
As Oak Park’s Catholic churches endure the method of consolidating as section of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Renew My Church initiative, Messier says religious entities are rethinking their actual estate wants.
“Back in the early 1900s you experienced an Italian-talking church, a Polish-speaking church and a Romanian-talking church within blocks of each other, all serving a diverse populace that walked to church,” Messier stated. “Nowadays, the archdiocese is starting up to blend some of these smaller church buildings.”
Parishes are beginning to question whether or not they will need all of their actual estate and realize there are considerable cost savings to be experienced if there are less home loans and less buildings to preserve. Messier notes that individuals cost savings can be put to other uses.
Although it can be unfortunate when a church closes, Messier notes that usually it can signal one thing beneficial when church buildings incorporate.
“It can produce a whole lot of superior momentum,” he claimed. “A merged church can offer you additional programming and convey in much more people. The church can be much more vivid and additional desirable to people today.”
Calculating value
In a typical household actual estate listing, a advertising agent appears at nearby comparables to price tag a home. Messier suggests that technique is challenging with a church due to the fact they are all distinctive and simply because there are much fewer on the market at any provided time.
When it comes to pricing, he says, “You glimpse at the financial energy of the bordering group, the record of tithing and the functionality of the space.”
Listing agents issue in how numerous men and women can the church seat how a lot of lecture rooms, if any, there are irrespective of whether there’s a fellowship corridor, kitchen, gymnasium or parking. All of these elements have an impact on the listing selling price.
Messier notes that the larger sized the creating, the scaled-down the purchaser pool and suggests that a 15,000-square-foot church would garner a great deal far more desire than a 75,000-square-foot church.
At just around 13,000 sq. toes on a very little much more than a quarter-acre web site, Parkview Church is listed at $650,000.
Looking for a church? Take your select
Parkview Church at Oak Park Avenue and Jackson Boulevard may perhaps have just hit the industry, but it is not the only house or worship mentioned for sale suitable now in the village.
In March 2021, we coated the listing of New Spirit Community Church at 542 S. Scoville Ave. in Oak Park. The 9,600-sq.-foot church was stated at $750,000 with the possibility of introducing the parish residence and good deal upcoming door for an extra selling price.
The church was later remarketed with the two a lot, 538 and 542 S. Scoville, merged and priced at $1,295,000.
To date, the church has not uncovered a customer.
