Twenty Questions (and answers)
1)
What is Grace Presbyterian Church attempting to do?
Grace believes that God has opened the door for us to enter the next chapter of our ministry in Utah. We wish to expand the methods by which we serve the local community, to engage in a period
of long term service, and to increase both our church health and local impact.
2)
How would all that happen?
We have purchased existing church buildings and surrounding property from Trinity
Lutheran Church.
This arrangement will benefit both churches greatly. Grace will have a base
of operations from which to conduct new ministries and expand our reach and impact for God’s kingdom. The Lutherans will gain sorely needed seed capital to enable them to establish a healthy, re-planted church nearby.
3)
What can I do to help?
The primary thing is for everyone interested in this situation to pray for BOTH churches. It is our desire that two churches will benefit - that both Grace Presbyterian
and Trinity Lutheran will flourish in their new environments. Naturally we are engaging
in a fund raising program, also. See Questions 13 and 14 below for details of what's needed and Questions 18 and
19 below for the details of our fundraising campaign. For those who want the short version - Quick donations may be
made using credit card or PayPal account by clicking the Donate button. This transaction costs you nothing in fees,
but Grace will pay a nominal amount to PayPal for this service. Or you can mail a contribution to:
Grace
Presbyterian Church of Utah
Facility
Investment
PO Box 1063
Layton, UT 84041
4)
Who owns the building, and what changes for its members?
Our denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) , does NOT own local church facilities. So the church buildings and property are owned entirely by the congregation
of Grace Presbyterian Church in Layton, Utah. As to changes for our members, they will continue the good stewardship
they now demonstrate at The Castle (or rented facility) in keeping the facility neat, clean, and up-to-date. New opportunities arise where volunteers are needed for lawn mowing, landscaping, painting, janitorial (including
cleaning the restrooms, etc.), snow removal, vacuuming, kitchen duty, etc. As we do
now, we will still use volunteers for Nursery, Sunday School, Children’s Church, Snacks and greeters. And the membership will be deeply involved in all of the new ministries in which the church will engage over
the coming years. Under no circumstances can we view this as just a new place to sit
each Sunday!
5)
Where is this church and property?
The new Grace Presbyterian Church location is in Layton, just
south of Layton Hills mall on the East side of Interstate 15. Their address is 385
W. Golden Avenue, where Golden intersects the access road along I-15, just south of Red Lobster
and the Comfort Inn. See picture below:
6)
Why
did the Lutherans sell the property?
Their congregation has been slowly decreasing in size, and their youngest members are in their early 60s. They believe they need to take the money out of their property and re-start in another,
smaller place, with less need for facility maintenance and upkeep. Cash flow has also
been an issue in the short term.
7)
What does the property and facility look like?
It’s on a triangular-shaped lot of 2.62 acres. There are two
lots cut out of two of the corners, and both have houses on them. One is neatly kept,
and the other is a rental, in poor condition, and offered for sale for a laughably unrealistic amount ($700K). The church building has an oval sanctuary with very high ceilings and a “modern” architecture in
white brick and white concrete block. There are offices and classrooms attached, as
well as a kitchen and good sized social hall. Total for the main facility is approx.
9000 square feet. There is also a large, detached garage/storage space and paved parking
lot with 94 spaces marked out (including 4 handicap spaces). See rough floor plan and
dimensions below:
8)
How old is this building?
The sanctuary and central offices are the oldest part. They were
built in the late 1940s, and they are consequently the sturdiest of the structures. The
south side classrooms were added in the 1960s, and the north side fellowship hall was added in the 1980s.
9)
How long would the building last?
With proper maintenance the building can last another 40-50 years or more, providing plenty of time to
raise funds for replacement buildings. You can see from the close-up overhead photo
below that the property has plenty of room for expansion, especially to the south.
10)
How much did you pay for the property?
We paid $425,000 total purchase price. We gave $275,000 in cash at closing and the Lutherans are
financing $150,000 at 3.5% simple interest for 5 years. We already have pledges in place that will cover the entire
financed amount within 3 years, even though we have up to 5 years to pay it off.
11)
How much is the property worth?
Valuing buildings of varying age is difficult. And the existing
buildings would be nearly useless to any organization except another church. Our consultant has estimated
that to purchase this land in a similar quality site and location, develop with landscaping and parking, construct new buildings,
and pay all associated fees, the cost would be $2.7M.
12) Who
is this consultant?
Dan Cook is the founder and president of Building God’s Way, a company that plans and facilitates
building projects for churches (over 700 of them) and schools all over the country, and some internationally. Local projects include Christian Heritage
School, Wasatch Christian
School, Washington Heights
Baptist Church, and Alpine Church in Riverdale. You can read more about his company on their website: http://www.bgwservices.com/overview/bgw.htm Building God’s Way primarily deals with new construction, and they do not offer
consulting for procurement situations such as ours. So Dan Cook is consulting for us
privately, and we benefit from his knowledge of exactly what needs to be done to repair and maintain the building, what it’s
worth, and what things cost to do.
13)
How much are you paying the consultant?
Dan has worked with our Future Facilities Committee for several years, and so far he has refused payment
of any kind. Since our recent efforts have far exceeded what should reasonably be expected
for free, we approached Dan and insisted he arrange some sort of fee. His final word
was that he would be glad to continue to offer his services for free, but if we wanted to, Grace could provide a donation
of $2000 to Wasatch Christian School
in Ogden on his behalf, which we have paid.
14)
Are there any other costs anticipated?
We
engaged Dan Cook's company, BGW Services, to go through the building end to end and give us the details on what should do
first. We all expected that the parking lot resurface would be Job #1 with a nursery and bathroom refresh to follow.
Instead we were surprised to learn that all the major mechanical, HVAC, and plumbing needs to be redone immediately.
There are 5 heating systems (with one section run by a boiler), and three of them are unsafe. All 5 need replacing. As
a result we now have a domino effect requiring the relocation of the boiler room. And we must also dig up the slab
to repair and re-route existing plumbing. The nursery needs to be relocated as well, with plumbing run to
it for a new toddler bathroom.
The price tag for just this mechanical work is over $100,000. This figure does not include new paint, carpet,
sanctuary soundproofing, cushions for the pews, hymnals, chairs, tables, parking lot, exterior landscaping, lawn sprinklers, or
anything else!!
15)
So what's the bottom line?
Work
is proceeding on the major mechanical and plumbing, and the consultants now estimate the tab for a modest refurbishment, including
most things mentioned above, will be about $300,000 or more. So the fundraising will continue into
the new year. While we hoped to get into the new building to worship by Christmas, it will not be possible. The
good news is that the acoustic tiles have all been tested, and the walls and floors torn down all have yielded NO ASBESTOS
to deal with! So work to get the place habitable proceeds week by week, and we continue to meet at our current location
(The Castle) in the meantime.
16)
Can you afford to maintain this building?
Yes. The total cost of the bills Trinity has been paying is less
than what we currently pay for rent at The Castle. With volunteer help for such
things as lawn care, snow removal, and general housekeeping, the monthly costs will be around half of what we currently pay
in rent. And Dan Cook suggests that good stewardship and refurbishment would lead to
even lower utility costs than Trinity paid.
17)
What is happening now?
We are making vital repairs to make the building habitable (restrooms, plumbing, heating, and paint) while continuing
to meet at The Castle. Once the facility is in habitable condition, we will move in
and invite our friends to attend. Current target is Jan-Feb 2010.
18)
What are the specific fund-raising needs?
In addition to the major mechanical and plumbing itmes, we are also seeking support for specific repair
and improvements as outlined in the table below:
19) What are the fund-raising details?
The primary thing is for everyone associated with this effort to pray for BOTH churches. Since we are resting in God’s providence rather than our own strength, we don’t expect most of the
funds to come from the congregation. Even so, the members are not relieved of the obligation
to give sacrificially as they are able – by cash or by pledge. We are seeking
cash (or stocks, bonds, etc.), pledges for cash before closing, and pledges over time. We are soliciting our congregation,
their families and friends, other individuals, sister churches in Utah and the West, and other churches in our denomination
(the Presbyterian Church in America), plus other organizations. Check the links at the top of the column to the left for our:
1-Introductory Letter
2-Property Investment Fact Sheet
3-Ministry Approach
4-Ways to Invest
5-Pledge Form for Individuals/Families
6-Pledge Form for Churches/Organizations
You can mail your contribution to:
Grace
Presbyterian Church of Utah
Building
Investment
PO Box 1063
Layton, UT 84041
Or you can hit the DONATE button below...
20)
What does this place look like?
See photos below…
