Just a very quick note as a follow-up to my previous post “An Interesting Tale of Stewardship, Property, and the PC(USA) Trust Clause.”
In that post I described the sale of an historic church building at auction back to a new congregation made up of many members of the old congregation, First Presbyterian Church of Oakfield, NY. In that sale Genesee Valley Presbytery got $50,000 which seems to about cover their legal fees in this whole incident. The various reports placed the value of the building at greater than $200,000, and probably closer to $400,000. An anomaly?
It turns out it is not. VitureOnline reported yesterday, and I don’t think it is a hoax appropriate to the day, that a vacant historic church building in Binghamton, NY, acquired by the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York through trust clause litigation when the congregation that was there departed the Episcopal Church for the Anglican Communion in North America, was sold back in February to the local Islamic Awareness Center for $50,000. Again, the assessed value of the property was $386,400. The Diocese saw about the same return on the property as the Presbytery — cash payment of roughly 1/8th the value and no longer having to worry about and care for a vacant building.
For reference, sale of church property below assessment is not unusual. The Episcopal Diocese of Rochester in June 2007 sold off the All Saints church building, now assessed on the tax rolls at just over a million dollars, for $475,000. So that sale was at roughly half the value of the property.
So, $50,000 seems to be the going rate for a $350,000 – $400,000 valued unoccupied church building in Central/Western New York. The macro-economic supply and demand implications are left as an exercise for the reader.
For some churches, especially those in the rural east, the fact that they have an attached cemetery can be another factor. When three churches left the Donegal Presbytery (PC(USA)), it was clear that the presbytery did not want the real estate, which included the responsibility for perpetual care of 300 year old cemeteries.
Re: the ECUSA church in Binghamton,NY, I noted with sadness that it was sold to an Islamic Awareness Center. Tghis also seems to be a pattern. The denomination demands that thetrust clause be enforced so that the denomination can “continue its historic witness in that location.” In several instances of which I am aware, they then turn around and sell the property to an Islamic or Hindu or other non-Christian sect. Maybe I am just a suspicious old curmudgeon, but there is almost a feeling of spite in such an action.