J Magazine Winter 2019

Pastor Jerry Vines delivers a sermon in 1993 at the
first service of First Baptist Church’s 8,800-seat
auditorium in Downtown Jacksonville. Attendance
at the church dropped to 3,200 in recent years.
vice president at Collegiate, told the Wall
Street Journal. “So those religious properties
that are well-located in urban areas are
attractive to developers.”
In Manhattan, St. John the Divine Episcopal
Church receives about $5.5 million
a year from 99-year leases it holds on two
apartment towers, which include market rate
and affordable housing that were built on its
11-acre campus.
In Atlanta, two Episcopal churches, All
Saints and St. Luke’s, which together own
eight blocks in high-priced Midtown, are
considering partnering with private developers
to repurpose some of their property.
Elsewhere in Midtown Atlanta, St. Mark
United Methodist Church sold a portion
of its property to StreetLights Residential,
which plans to build a 26-story mixed use
apartment tower.
“If you’re sitting on several million dollars
of equity that you could trade … and have
millions to help people, then why shouldn’t
you do it?” Atlanta’s Bull Realty founder Michael
Bull told Bisnow, an Atlanta real estate
publication.
But one church is sitting on several billions
of real estate – Trinity Wall Street.
The Episcopal church founded in 1696
in New York City was gifted in 1705 with 215
acres from Queen Anne. Once farmland
in Lower Manhattan, it is now some of the
highest-priced real estate in the country.
Most of the land was sold over the centuries,
but the congregation is still one of the
largest landowners in the city with 14 acres
valued in 2015 at $3.5 billion. The holdings
include 5.5 million square feet of commercial
space in Hudson Square that in 2011
brought the church $158 million in revenue
and $38 million in net income.
Though the value of the property has
waxed and waned over the centuries,
Trinity is credited with a recent revival of the
Hudson Square area as a creative hub. That
caught the eye of the Walt Disney Company,
which has signed a 99-year lease with the
church for its new headquarters. The deal is
valued at $650 million.
Trinity Wall Street is in a league of its
own, but the Rev. Lang Lowrey thinks more
churches should follow Trinity’s lead.
“People say that churches are in decline.
I look at it differently. Churches are consolidating
and coming out stronger when they
do,” Lowrey said. “And that leaves a lot of real
estate that can be used for mission purposes
or income purposes.”
Lowrey is the canon of Christian enterprise
for the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta
and helps churches figure out what to do
with their real estate.
“I tell churches, never ever, ever sell their
property,” Lowrey said. “You probably won’t
do that well. Churches get taken advantage
of by developers. They want to buy low and
sell high.”
Some churches are in trouble financially
and eager to get out from under their
high-maintenance buildings, but Lowrey
tells them to think long term.
“Some of these properties are in transitional
areas but in 10 years it could be a
tony area. You don’t want to sell in the valley
years. You want to control your property
because you might want to have a church
there again.”
JEFF DAVIS
While First Presbyterian’s membership peaked
at about 2,000 in the 1950s, the church is hoping
Downtown revitalization will inspire growth.