Property

Church: More than the building. 

Buildings, property, brick and mortar all serve a purpose. They are assets. Things we can move and touch and depend on. They are physical ways we mark meaning. A wall is no longer just a wall once it bears the pencil marks of a kid growing up in time. A space becomes a home when you add rugs and chairs and tables and people and food and trash and brooms. 

The physical space exists always to serve the people. Not the other way around. And we have to keep that in check. Always.

As we think about more... land, parking spaces, buildings, trees, gardens, etc, let’s not lose this focus. Let’s always ask, “Who else can this serve?” “What needs of our community can be met?” These are the questions we've been asking ourselves as we work toward God's 20 year vision.

The Session and Building Working Group of Downtown Church have been working to faithfully steward God's 20-year vision with flexibility and clarity.

Listen to our sermon series on the land campaign here.

In the fall of 2025, we launched a new project to acquire the 1.44 acres corner lot beside us (Calhoun + Gregg Streets) and complete a parking lot in the back of our property.

(drumroll.....) As of Easter 2026 we have completed the parking lot in the back, beautified our property with landscaping, and we are under contract for the corner lot!

If you haven't driven by Central Energy at night recently, we recommend it! The new lighting for the landscaping is breathtaking. And if you haven't parked in the new lot yet, give it a try, your tires may appreciate not getting nails in them. 

Our goal is to raise 2.5 million dollars in pledges to complete this project.
To date, we have raised 2.31 million!

We want to take a beat to celebrate this milestone with you and say, "Thank you!!"  Thank you to every person who made this project possible. Shout out to our Building Working Group and Session and Staff members who put in lots of hours moving this project along. Shout out to every individual who stretched to give toward this project. And finally, shout out to the kids who brought their scooters, bicycles and four square games to break in our new parking lot this past Maundy Thursday.

If you'd like to set up a pledge or pay on yours, you can do that here.

Next steps:

• We are in the due diligence period on our purchase sale agreement with Hughes Development of BullStreet for the corner lot. We will let you know once that is final. 

• In the coming year, we will bring together focus groups to revisit the design of the Front Porch building to ensure it meets the needs of our community for education and ministry. 

 
Future Phases of our 20 year vision:

• Build the Front Porch and enjoy the space for our kids to learn and grow in their faith

• Pay off our current loan for the Central Energy Building (where we meet for worship/have office space). This loan is for just under 2 million. Since this loan’s interest rate is 4%, Session has decided to act on the land and site work first before addressing the loan.

Trinity Presbytery has approved our purchase of the corner lot.

Building Working Group
(practical doers)

Michael Quinn, Real Estate Attorney
Lee Hammersla, Construction Expert
Jason Tompkins, Real Estate Developer + Elder
Brad Shell, Commercial Real Estate + Elder
Todd Martin, Landscape Architect
Stephanie Kimbrough, Master Gardener
Leslie Biddle, Master Gardener
Bunny Johnson, Elder 
Kristen Jerome, Accountant + Elder
Kristen Horne, Attorney + Elder
Wiggins Bates, Director of Property and Technology for Downtown Church