By Paris Goodnight
Salisbury Post
Sacred Heart Catholic Church is offering its church building, school and other downtown properties for sale for $2.665 million.
Michael Hallett and Chris Beal of Peerless Realty have listed the just-under 2 acres for sale and have a Web site at www.sacredproperty.com for potential buyers to visit and get more information. Sacred Heart plans to break ground June 29 at its new location off Jake Alexander Boulevard near Isenberg Elementary School.
“It’s a once-in-a-blue-moon type of property,” Hallett said. But he noted, “It’s kind of tricky to promote a church property.”
As a Catholic parishioner, Hallett said the ideal situation would be to sell all of it to a single buyer. But as a Realtor, he noted he would take all serious offers to the bishop for individual parcels.
According to the Web site, the 15,600-square-foot church was built in 1940, seats 200 and includes a basement that now serves as cafeteria and fellowship hall.
The school was built in 1964 and includes 10 classrooms in 10,500 square feet of space
Also up for sale are:
– The Marian House, a 3,400-square-foot home on Innes Street.
– The convent/rectory, a 3,100-square-foot building that’s been used since 1949.
Hallett said he’s approached other nearby churches like First Baptist, First Presbyterian and St. John’s Lutheran to see if they would be interested in the space as they expand. But while he’s started with neighbors first, he’s not necessarily banking on the Salisbury community producing the eventual buyer.
He said he’s tried direct marketing to large brokers and developers to get the message out statewide, regionally and even nationally.
Beal, as youth director, often is on the site for potential buyers to see the property.
Members of Sacred Heart have been preparing for the new site for years. They held a celebration of the purchase of an 80-acre site on Old Mocksville Road on April 30, 2006, but after a land swap, they’re focused on the fundraising efforts for a 107-acre site off Jake Alexander Boulevard.
The parish and the Diocese of Charlotte each will own about half of the new site.
After paying $1.2 million for the original property, plans were to raise another $3.4 million for the new project.
Michael Vaeth, who is on Sacred Heart’s building committee, said it’s now estimated to cost nearly $9 million when complete.
The Rev. John Putnam is pastor of Sacred Heart, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.Contact the church at 704-633-0591, Hallett at 704-239-6738 or Beal at 704-798-2262.
Contact Paris Goodnight at 704-797-4255 or pgoodnight@salisburypost.com.