Prairie Village may soon become the new owner of a $4.5 million church property.
The Prairie Village City Council on Monday is considering a contract to purchase the property at 7820 Mission Rd., which is currently Mission Road Bible Church.
The move to possibly purchase the church building Monday comes roughly a month after city staff confirmed to the Post that the city has been looking at purchasing the building, which sits immediately south of the city’s municipal complex on Mission Road.
The church property could be part of a new city hall
- The prospect of purchasing the church first came up publicly in a July work session about a slightly revised design layout for the city’s new $30 million city hall plan.
- The city council is considering purchasing the church property “as an option for a renovated municipal building or as land adjacent to the municipal complex,” according to city documents for Monday’s meeting.
- Immediately after considering the purchase contract on Monday, the city council is anticipated to consider adding $50,000 to the maximum fee paid to architecture firm Clark & Enersen for the work it’s doing on the new city hall project.
- The $50,000 would be specifically to evaluate the church property as a potential part of a new city hall complex.
Mission Road Bible Church is moving
- The church is looking to buy a new space in Shawnee at 6601 Monticello Rd., according to the purchase contract included in city documents.
- The city purchasing the church property — and potentially closing on the sale by February — is contingent upon the church successfully buying the Shawnee property, according to city documents.
- The Shawnee building off Monticello Road was most recently home to the Central Baptist Theological Seminary.
- The asking price for the Shawnee building is unclear, but its total assessment is more than $8 million, according to commercial real estate listing site LoopNet.
- Central Seminary declined to comment for this story, and Mission Road Bible Church did not respond to the Post’s requests for comment.
The church would not move out immediately
- City Administrator Wes Jordan told the Post on Friday that if the city council approves the purchase contract at Monday’s city council meeting, the church would still occupy that space for another 12 to 18 months.
- Jordan said the city could potentially purchase the property using short-term debt, which city documents describe as “temporary notes.”
- If the city council goes through with approving the purchase at Monday’s meeting and later decides it wants to redevelop the church property, potentially as part of a new city hall, then the city would need to use “long-term debt,” or bonds, to do so, Jordan said.
- Jordan said decisions to commit to any long-term debt related to the church property would be made at a later date.
How to tune in to Monday’s conversation
- The city council meets at 6 p.m. on Aug. 19, and the church property purchase is the first new business item on the agenda.
- City council meetings are held at City Hall, 7700 Mission Rd., and are also livestreamed here.
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