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Old Danville church education building still looking for new owner

October 15, 2010|By HERB BROCK | herb@amnews.com

This three-story structure on North Fourth Street, which used to serve as the education building for First Baptist Church, which moved to a site off of the Danville bypass, is still for sale after three years. New Mission Worship Center leases the first floor. Photo/Herb Brock/herb@amnews.com

It’s been three years since First Baptist Church moved from its site on Broadway and North Fourth Street to its new location on the Danville bypass. While most of the structures on the property were razed to make room for the expansion of the Boyle County Public Library, a 50-year-old remnant of the church still remains. And it’s a remnant the church is still trying to sell.

The old three-story, 18,000-square-foot structure, which faces North Fourth, served for five decades as the education building for the church. It has been for sale since 2007, and Prudential is the Realtor.

“Our initial asking price was $600,000, but we have gone down to $475,000,” said Robert Davenport, a First Baptist trustee and treasurer.

Church leaders thought they had a buyer early on in its effort to sell the building, Davenport said. “When the city of Danville was making plans for a new city hall, we talked to them about buying our old education building,” he said. “We thought the city would take it but they decided they wanted to explore other options.”

Since then, there have been “several inquiries” from prospective buyers but no deals, Davenport said.

In the meantime, the church is getting at least a little bit of income from the building, Davenport said. It leases the first floor to the New Mission Worship Center,” he said.

“It’s a small congregation that needed a place to worship, and we were more than happy to lease the first floor to them,” he said. “They realize we are trying to sell the whole building.”

If and when the building is sold, Davenport believes the new owner will be getting a bargain.

“It is a half century old, built back in 1960 or so, but it is a good, solid structure,” he said. “It is masonry and concrete block with floors still in sound condition.”

The new owner obviously can do any reconstruction or remodeling, inside or out, he or she might want to do, but it could serve several purposes in its current configuration, Davenport said. Possibilities include a company needing a lot of office space or an educational enterprise requiring classrooms.

“The building has numerous classrooms, a number of bathrooms and also a kitchen, all in good condition,” he said.

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