As a complement to our Living Church on February 25, we want to provide an update on our Capital Campaign and, in particular, the progress we have made toward its primary goal—the using, configuring, and paying off our mortgage on 1710 Spruce.

In 2015, we acquired 1710 Spruce Street for $4.1 million. During 2017, we paid down the mortgage by more than a million dollars. We also paid over $110,000 in interest. These payments allowed us to “attach” the carriage house to the main church building and open it up for unconditional use. We have also paid off the mortgage on 1716 Spruce Street in full.

In 2017, we received capital campaign pledges of just over $1.0 million and giving of $292,000 against those pledges. We received another $239,000 in unpledged giving. Thank you for your generous support of this campaign.

To date, the Building Committee has completed two major projects integral to the configuration of the property for our use.

1. The carriage house has been configured for small children and serves as a nursery space on Sundays and houses a preschool during the week. 
2. Intern housing has been created on the third and fourth floors of 1710. 

We prioritized these two projects in order to enable the lease of our other Spruce Street property.

We will continue to work on the second floor and basement of the 1710 Spruce Street Ministry Center in order to create additional classroom space. With the right amount of rescheduling and reconfiguration, we expect that the Sunday uses at 315 S 17th Street can be folded into our main campus, giving us the option of rental or sale on that property as well.

Some may already know that The City School is moving out of 315 S 17th Street at the end of this school year. In December, I informed the congregation that discussions were underway to rent 315 to the Classical School beginning in September. The ongoing viability of this option is being weighed at this time.

The Building Committee is also at work planning the courtyard space between the church and 1710. An artist’s concept of the courtyard is on display in Reception Hall.

As it stands now, we are using the third and fourth floors of 1710 Spruce Street for intern housing and the second floor as office space for our outreach staff. We have also consistently put the large rooms on the first floor to good use. At some point, the second floor will likely be reconfigured to better serve the needs of our Adult Sunday School.

In the longer term, we plan to reconfigure the remaining usable spaces in 1710, including the kitchen, to better serve the needs of the congregation.

Please pray for the capital campaign committee, trustees, and elders as we consider a property management strategy ahead of our mortgage refinancing in 2019.

Preliminary Year-End Capital Fund Financial Report