Mixed Use Development
October 3rd, 2006 by Todd
Recently, WPH Architects for Ministry was interviewed by Your Church magazine to discuss what we see as up-and-coming trends in church facility development. So we thought it would be fitting to share this with you as well.
On several of our projects, we are seeing churches act as community leaders by initiating a mixed-use development. A mixed-use development is a single, cohesively-designed site for church use as well as other community-oriented uses. This may include such things as Office and retail spaces, senior/assisted living, and a daycare or community center with after-school programs. These other uses or programs may or may not be associated with the church.
As an example, we have been working with Dickson City Assembly of God, in Pennsylvania. They recently purchased 40 acres of land that was originally an old mining site and breaker plant. The site is covered in coal ash and slag and is an undesirable blight on the landscape. Just as God sees beauty in ashes, Dickson City sees the potential in this land. They need to build a new, larger church facility that can meet the needs of their congregation. Although this land was relatively inexpensive, developing it would be very costly. Normally, a substantial portion of a church’s property is developed as parking spaces, used primarily on Sundays. By putting up other buildings that use the parking during the week (such as an Office or daycare center), the church will be able to offset a substantial portion of the cost to develop the property. The church is in the process of re-zoning the property and will initially sell several residential lots. This will generate revenue to start the project, which will include senior housing and a community center, along with the church building. The community center will provide daycare and after-school care, and serve as the church’s youth center. The overall goal of this development is to meet the needs of the community while providing revenue streams that pay the building and development costs. In this way, more of the church’s resources will be free to go to ministry and missions, rather than being eaten up by a big mortgage.
Mixed-use developments have great potential for churches because of their ability to make the church an integral part of the community and the capacity to offset development costs. Townships and municipalities also find the idea of mixed-use developments appealing. They are more environmentally friendly, as shared parking reduces the amount of impervious surface area, allowing more rainwater to soak into the ground. Additionally, the municipality can still collect taxes on a portion of the mixed-use development (the church is exempt from taxes, but other businesses on the same property are not).
[…] It’s hard to overemphasize the importance of community. Evans is correct in his assessment that people can hang out at church all day. However, facilities are in use not just all day on a Sunday, but all day everyday when schools and daycares are incorporated into church facilities. Some churches would even like to accommodate retail spaces in their facilties. (See Mixed Use Development) So when you think about building community with design, make sure to consider both the community that exists within your congregation, as well as the community that exists in the surrounding neighborhood, and make connections both ways. […]