Two years ago, a Greenwood church made a deal officials thought could save it, but it cost them nearly everything.
Vineyard Community Church announced last week it is moving from its downtown Greenwood home of 15 years after it put two properties on the line and lost them. As a result, church officials had to pick up and start over someplace else.
The issue, years in the making, bubbled to the surface in 2019, when Vineyard needed to sell a 52-acre property it bought in 2004 at the corner of Worthsville Road and County Road 250 East, just east of Interstate 65, to pay off a debt it owed to a California-based bank. The church bought the southeast side property 17 years ago to build a mega church, an idea that never came to fruition, said Jim Bricker, senior pastor at Vineyard.
The property sat on the market for four years — between 2015 and 2019 — before Opus Development Company, LLC, a Minneapolis-based developer, offered to buy it for about $3 million in early 2019.
At the time, Vineyard was $3 million in debt with the bank, and the payment was due. The church needed to sell the 52-acre property, Bricker said. In 2006, the church used the property as collateral to buy its building at 512 S. Madison Ave. for $2 million, and did $2.5 million in renovations, he said. Then, when the recession hit, Vineyard refinanced both properties together, which left the church with a $3 million balloon payment that had to be paid all at once.
Years later, Vineyard entered into a purchase agreement with Opus to try and sell the southeast side property and pay off the debt, but the deal was only good if the City of Greenwood rezoned the land to light industrial from suburban fringe. That proved to be harder than expected as nearby residents were outraged by the idea of the property being filled with industrial warehouses. Opus planned to build three warehouses on the property, ranging from 50,000 to 350,000 square feet.
When the proposal went before the Greenwood City Council in March 2019, the council chambers were filled to capacity with people wanting to speak for and against the proposed rezone. Area residents argued there were plenty of empty warehouses and land available north of Worthsville Road; nearby warehouses would diminish their property values; industrial development is not what the city’s comprehensive plan calls for in the area; and increased traffic on narrow, country roads would be dangerous.
Vineyard advocated for Opus, saying the development would bring to Greenwood the kind of growth it was looking for, including new jobs and increased tax revenue. They also made clear they needed the property to sell for the church to continue operating, with plans to make improvements to fit with the city’s plans to redevelop the old middle school property across the street from Vineyard, Bricker said.
“It would have made it possible for us to not only completely retire our debt, but to make improvements to fit the mayor’s 2020 vision for Greenwood,” Bricker said. “The project was a big, big expectation all around.”
But the Greenwood City Council voted against the rezone by a vote of 7-2, the purchase agreement between Vineyard and Opus was terminated, and both the 52-acre property and the Madison Avenue building were surrendered to the bank in June 2019.
The council’s decision blindsided Vineyard officials, Bricker said. They had high expectations the rezone would pass because of what they saw as opportunities for progress, he said.
“We were shocked that they wouldn’t do that because of people who would say things like, ‘I don’t want any buildings there because when I drive over the interstate, I just want to see fields,'” Bricker said.
After the agreement was terminated, Vineyard continued to lease its Madison Avenue building from the bank, but it remained on the market for $3.2 million. The church tried to buy the building from the bank, but its offer was denied, he said.
In November, the bank sold the building to BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Hindu Mandir, which was looking to relocate its Hindu temple from Avon, Bricker said.
Since then, Vineyard has found another property in Greenwood, and told its congregation about its plans to move this spring. Bricker would not share where the church is moving because plans have not been finalized, he said.
Bricker sees the move as a new beginning. In the last year, the church’s congregation grew by 53% after it enhanced its virtual services due to the coronavirus pandemic. People tune into church services from 49 countries and 43 states, he said.
The church also continues to serve thousands each year across Johnson County and the southside of Indianapolis with its CARE Center food pantry, which will be relocated as well.
“We perceive this big change to be God’s provision and protections for us as a church,” Bricker said.
And the congregation was receptive and understanding of the change, too, said Bricker, who just announced the move to everyone this month.
“People were just like, ‘How can I help? Let me volunteer to help move,'” Bricker said. “One person actually said, ‘We don’t care if Vineyard meets in a barn, we’ll be there.'”
Still, there are no grudges or hard feelings, he said.
“We’re disappointed we lost the vote, but we still love and honor and serve the City of Greenwood, our mayor and the city council,” Bricker said. “We’re not upset at anybody.”
