The U.S. Post Office at 12 W. Dickson St. in Fayetteville. The steeple Central United Methodist Church can be seen in the background.
A $1.2 million check is small comfort for Central United Methodist Church in Fayetteville.
You may remember that the church tried to get out of a $3.3 million purchase in 2014 of the U.S. Post Office at 12 W. Dickson St. — next door to the church — after the church learned it would be obligated to sell the 39,000-SF post office back to the federal government for a set price in 2021. That 2018 lawsuit, filed against the previous owners of the property, was thrown out of federal court.
That meant the church had nothing to do but wait for the financial shoe to drop, especially after the government told the church a year ago it would indeed buy the property for the set price of $1.2 million when its lease expired at the end of July 2021.
The property is estimated to be worth $5 million, and the church took a $2.1 million hit from what it paid. It did receive more than $123,000 in annual rent for seven years but still owes nearly $2 million on the purchase.
“We owe $1.7 million in total debt, and that is pretty much the post office property,” said Brian Swain, the church’s executive director. “You can do the math. If we never did that deal, would the church be in debt? No.”
The church bought the post office thinking it could use it to expand. The 2014 sellers were siblings Barbara Weissberger and Stanley Franklin, the children of original owner Sydney Franklin.
There was a clause in the original contract between Sydney Franklin and the post office that gave the set price for the sale. The church thought a later amendment meant the price would be set at the market rate.
“Nobody in their right mind would have bought it” if the church had known the set price provision would be the law, Swain said.
“In part, it’s our own fault. I’m not here to point fingers. Bygones are bygones, but it is still a frustrating deal.”
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