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| Is Boston Archdiocese Giving Sweet Deals on Sale of Church Properties?
Boston Catholic Insider
September 20, 2013
http://bostoncatholicinsider.wordpress.com/2013/09/19/is-boston-archdiocese-giving-sweet-deals-on-sale-of-church-properties/
Given the financial condition of the Boston Archdiocese, one would think that the archdiocese would try to get as much money as possible when selling properties.
Not necessarily.
Here is an example. St. Catherine of Siena Church in Charleston was recently sold. The properities sold were assessed at more than $8.7M. The were sold for just $1.4M to Suffolk Company. (Note Suffolk Company appears to be different from Suffolk Construction).
A year ago in 2012, according to this article, the value of the property was follows:
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The church building is 22,000 square feet on a plot of 17,000 square feet. It was built in 1890 and is presently assessed for $2.5 million.
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The former parochial school property built in 1900, which is part of the entire package, has a land area of 31,400 square feet and a structure of 29,000 square feet and is currently assessed for $6.2 million.
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There is a third property – The Annex – built in 1920 – which has a 2000 square foot school building. This structure rests on the school parcel aforementioned.
This spring, all three of these were sold. This April 6 report says:
The property included the church, school, annex buildings and parking lot. Separated from the sale are the rectory and the small parking lot behind that building. The property was sold to Suffolk Company, Inc. for $1.4 million.
To be fair, we do not know the value of the rectory and small parking lot behind it. Still, it is difficult to not look at this sale and question why the Boston Archdiocese has sold a property in a prime location with assessed value of $8.7M at about a $7M loss. Unconfirmed rumors suggest that the redevelopment of the property will include a Walgreens and Women’s Clinic.
If anyone out there knows why this property was sold at such a substantial discount off the assessed value, do let us know.
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