Good afternoon all,
As many of you may now know, the Mennonite Church and adjacent house located at 223-245 Peabody Street NW has been purchased by Bogdan Capital. I have been in communication with the buyers and they have come up with three possible options for this parcel of land:
"Option #1: We are entertaining either leasing or selling to a church or church community organizations however we are not sure if we will be successful in this endeavor. I feel like there should be some demand still for the church to be left as is on site. We have not had any luck ourselves marketing it to our sources. If we are not able to find a buyer or renter for the site we do intend to move forward with 2 single family units on the site."
"Option #2: If we are not able to get some commitments from a purchaser/or renter by this spring we will move forward with development of the site as residential. The second attachment shows how the lots originally were laid out with 14 and 15 containing the church. Lot 16 has the single family detached home on it known as 223 Peabody. We have already submitted for this to be subdivided back to its original lot size and it will be developed as a single family detached home later this year."
"The Church itself does not sit exactly in the middle of what was originally lot 14 and 15 thus why we are asking for your support for a non-typical subdivision. This would allow us to keep the main foundation and structure of the church and allow us to make the building more esthetically appealing and more conforming to the neighborhood. The first attachment shows what we are proposing to achieve this. We are seeking your support for this should option #1 not work out."
There is an option 3, to develop an affordable housing apartment complex which I have already expressed I am not in approval of, nor would the community.
Bogdan Capital has been very open and receptive to the communities and my input. I am reaching out to various churches in the community to garner interest purchasing or renting the church space as either a new location or a secondary location for their congregation. I welcome your thoughts on additional congregations for this church space.
I want to stress again, that I am NOT in agreement with option number 3 AT ALL. We must all work together to ensure that Bogdan Capital knows our feelings on this matter. I am working to schedule a special single member district meeting to discuss this matter with the community. Please keep an eye out for the meeting notice as soon as the details are finalized.