The Detroit News / May 21. 2010
Metro Detroit's real-estate crunch has hit the last bastion of community stability: churches.
Across Michigan, the same forces depressing the housing and commercial market -- falling values, depopulation and lack of financing -- make it a buyers' market for houses of worship. And like other property owners, the clergy is praying for a rebound.
On Detroit's east side, the Jamison Temple Missionary Baptist Church has languished on the market for two years. The 500-member congregation left its old facility on Frankfort Street for a bigger church on Mack near Connor, and has reduced the asking price of the former church from $675,000 to $495,000.
"We've had people look at the building, but they can't get a bank loan. The banks aren't loaning money," said Royal Jamison, the pastor's wife and co-founder of the church.
"We might have to go into a land contract or have to go lower on the price."
Her husband, the Rev. Homer Jamison, said he's "praying that banks open back up to the faith community."
From Wyandotte to White Lake Township, the Metro area market is glutted. Some churches have prices as low as $60,000. Others can be higher, like the Agape Christian Center in Canton Township, which is listed for $2.9 million and includes amenities such as gyms, schools, acres of parking, baptismal pools and office space galore.
Statistics for the number of churches on the market in Michigan aren't available, but one firm -- Real Estate Professional Services in Southfield -- has listings for more than 50 in Metro Detroit alone and another 20 elsewhere in Michigan. The market has changed considerably in just two years, said Kevin Messier, co-owner of the firm. "Banks were lending money and the appraisals were coming in high," he said.
"Ninety percent of what we sold was bank financed; now it's done a 180 (turnaround). Ninety percent (financing) is on land contract or seller financing."
He said he suspects that Michigan tops the list of empty churches nationwide on the market.
Lakeside Community Church in St. Clair Shores isn't empty, but its parish has spent 2 1/2 years searching for a buyer. The 27,500-square-foot church is in a prime location on East Jefferson along Lake St. Clair and includes 15 classrooms, 10 offices, a library, nursery, gym and youth activities room.
Listed at $1.99 million, the church hasn't had any offers.
Its pastor, the Rev. Ken Render, said several congregations have been interested, but a tight credit market and fewer collection dollars make it difficult for churches to raise money to buy up.
"The capital is just not there in this area's economy," Render said.
"Banks may be an issue but churches have to raise capital. I think that level of giving has been cut tremendously."
The burnt-orange church is the original home of the 60-year-old Southern Baptist congregation and is now too small for its 300 members. For Sunday services, the church rents out the auditorium of Lakeview High School, while another congregation rents the sanctuary from Lakeside for Sunday and Tuesday services.
Render said he's prepared to wait for the market to change.
"We're not under any duress by any means to sell," Render said.
That's not the case for the Archdiocese of Detroit, which is racing against the clock to sell vacant churches before vandals and scrappers plunder them.
The archdiocese has nine churches on the market, one convent, two homes and three schools, including Notre Dame High School in Harper Woods that closed in 2005. Asking price: $4.9 million.
The former St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church near Lenox and Jefferson in Detroit is going for $1.2 million. The church closed 13 years ago and has languished, said Michael Moran, director of properties for the archdiocese. "It's not been because of the market but because of the financing," Moran said. "It's a strong market but the financing has been virtually nonexistent."
Moran pointed to the former St. Agnes Catholic Church, later named Martyrs of Uganda, on Rosa Parks Boulevard near 12th Street as an example of how churches can be targeted by thieves and vandals after they are left empty.
Moran said church officials removed and stored the expensive stained glass windows when the church was first put up for sale. But after the sale the new owners eventually abandoned the building, and it became a target for vandals.
"The church was totally devastated," Moran said.
Some sales have been affected when congregations have been caught in mortgage scams.
First Baptist Institutional Church on Seven Mile in Detroit was caught in a mortgage scam and had trouble trying to get a new mortgage on its building, said the Rev. Howard Fauntroy, pastor of the 93-year-old church. He launched a radiothon last year to save the church from closing its doors.
Another bank stepped in to help the church, but Fauntroy says there was a lot of nail-biting before the church got the new mortgage.
Fauntroy says this is typical of what is happening to churches.
"We would have gone by the wayside," said Fauntroy, who has been pastor for 14 years. "It's a difficult time for churches given what's happening with the economy."
bwilliams@detnews.com (313) 222-2027