PHOENIX, ARIZ. (May 11, 2022) – NAI Horizon’s Church Realty Solutions practice led by Thomas Smith, represented the seller, the buyer, and a new landlord in the $1.425 million investment sale and long-term lease of Celebration Lutheran Church in Peoria, Arizona.
Smith, a Senior Vice President with NAI Horizon, represented the seller – off of a referral from Earle Shroyer of Realty Executives – Celebration Lutheran Church of Peoria, and the buyer, a private investment partnership from Phoenix.
The property is located at 8726 W. Olive Ave., in Peoria.
In a separate transaction, Smith represented the new owner in a long-term lease totaling in excess of $500,000. Calvary Chapel Arrowhead was looking to move its church to a more dynamic and capable set of facilities while remaining in Peoria.
Smith assists and serves churches in acquiring new buildings, in leasing part or all of their existing facilities, supports owner churches in creating new revenue sources from partial and or part-time leasing of their facilities, and creates strategies to repurpose buildings to accommodate places of worship, consolidates, and assists with the sale and disposition of properties and facilities for churches of all sizes and styles. Smith also brings in smaller churches to sometimes share space on off-sabbath days at market rental rates
“Another option for a struggling church that is facing diminishing congregational growth is a sale-leaseback in which a church sells its property, banks its equity or uses it to rebuild ministries, and then leases the property back from the new owner/landlord,” Smith said. “This is a message that is being heard in church real estate but not acted on often enough to date.
“The strategy is to bring in another church entity as buyer or a specific investor profile that will, encourage a challenged church to look to achieve a strategic transaction known as a sale-leaseback. The more traditional approach to capturing inflated equity in a church facility is to sell and seek to either lease or buy a smaller facility thus lowering expenses while recapitalizing a church’s financial position,” Smith said.
Built in 1994, the 6670 SF property features traditional church architecture – a sanctuary, kitchen, offices, a conference room, restrooms, storage room, and classrooms. There are also peaceful fellowship areas outside and inside the main building. Additionally, a vacant piece of land totaling more than 2 acres was included in the sale transaction.
“For me, the Church Realty Solutions practice is part business and part ministry and serves as my driving purpose to create and deliver world-class professional real estate services to communities of faith,” Smith said.
Janel Wangsness with Keyser represented the Calvary Chapel Arrowhead tenant, which already has seen new congregants and made improvements to the existing facilities.
About NAI Horizon
Exceptional global commercial real estate solutions begin with local market leadership and expertise. Established in 1992, NAI Horizon is a full-service commercial real estate company serving Arizona with offices located in Phoenix and Tucson. NAI Horizon is passionate about the commercial real estate business, providing Brokerage and Property Management Services for local, national and international clients. NAI Horizon is a member of the NAI Global commercial real estate network providing real estate solutions to more than 300 offices worldwide. For more information visit www.naihorizon.com.
About NAI Global
Advisory Services, Leasing, Property Management, Property & Note Sales and Tenant Representation
NAI Global is a leading global commercial real estate brokerage firm. NAI Global offices are leaders in their local markets and work in unison to provide clients with exceptional solutions to their commercial real estate needs. NAI Global has more than 300 offices in 43 countries strategically located throughout North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific, with 5,100 local market professionals, managing in excess of 1.1 billion square feet of property and facilities. Annually, NAI Global completes in excess of $20 billion in commercial real estate transactions and a gross revenue of $1.5 billion.
NAI Global professionals achieve extraordinary results for clients locally and globally through creativity, collaboration and the consistent delivery of exceptional knowledge and service that only market-leading firms can provide. NAI Global provides a full range of corporate real estate services, including brokerage and leasing, property and facilities management, real estate investment and capital market services, due diligence, global supply chain and logistics consulting and related advisory services.
To learn more visit www.naiglobal.com.
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