The Southern Baptist Convention isn’t the only national denomination attempting to sell its headquarters building amid changing dynamics. The Episcopal Church announced June 17 that its 12-story Church Center building in New York City is on the market.
Two years ago, the SBC Executive Committee announced plans to sell its headquarters building in downtown Nashville, Tenn., but has yet to find a buyer. That seven-story building was built for $8 million in the 1980s and appraised for $31.7 million in 2021.
By some insider accounts, the once-hot Nashville real estate market has hit a wall that likely has cooled interest in the Baptist property.
The SBC sale was prompted by expenses accrued in investigating and defending allegations of clergy sexual abuse in the denomination.
The headquarters of The Episcopal Church at 815 Second Avenue in New York City. (Photo by Egan Millard/Episcopal News Service)
The Episcopal Church said its plan to sell stems from a downsized denominational workforce and the distribution of employees now working from locations throughout the U.S. and Europe. The Episcopal Church and its affiliated organizations occupy less than half the building and need even less space than that, according to Chief Financial Officer Chris Lacovara.
The Episcopal headquarters building was completed in 1963 at a cost of $4 million, with office space for 500 people.
The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council and Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe said the church hopes to enter into a long-term ground lease with a group that would redevelop the building, potentially as affordable housing.
Conversations about selling the massive building began seven years after it opened, and by 2012 the church’s General Convention approved a resolution to relocate Church Center headquarters away from the Manhattan site.
“We’ve done a detailed analysis about the best use of the building, with consultants and architects,” Lacovara said. “We occupy a fraction of the Church Center space now, and the conclusion is that we don’t need to own and occupy a building in midtown Manhattan.”
Across America, denominational bodies have moved away from their signature properties that once were signs of institutional presence. This is true of Episcopalian groups and Baptist groups at all levels.
“Dioceses and congregations throughout The Episcopal Church are looking at real estate as a missional asset, and we need to think about the Church Center in the same way,” Lacovara said. “We’re hoping that the decision to market the building, and the process we went through leading up to it, will encourage others to think carefully about how best to steward underutilized buildings and land.”
Among Southern Baptists, at least 12 of the 42 state conventions that partner with the SBC have sold headquarters buildings in the past decade. This includes state conventions in Florida, Oklahoma, California and Texas. The Baptist General Convention of Texas, for example, sold its 25-year-old headquarters in 2014 to Baylor University’s School of Nursing and took up smaller residence in a commercial office tower.