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Brothers,
We have been fellowshipping locally and with some other brothers both within the Midwest and outside the Midwest about raising funds for a potential meeting hall for the church in Champaign. The church here has been meeting for the last eighteen years in the student union building on campus. However, there is a building that is one block from campus that is a fraternity building which is up for sale. We feel it is probably the best building we will be able to find that is so close to campus. All the brothers both in and outside the Midwest that we have shown it to are impressed with the building and its usefulness.
Update on the current situation: If we can complete the purchase of the building by the end of March, the owner will give us the $10,000 a month rent check that he gets. To close this quickly, we have an immediate need for an additional $80,000. We plan to take possession in July, and by that time we will need $120,000 more to complete renovations and upgrades to make the building ADA compliant.
Benefits of this building to the Chinese speaking work: We actually do a dual work here in Champaign. On the Chinese speaking side we have 32 students that meet at least once a month on Lord's day, and another 48 that the saints have contact with at least monthly in the Bible study, home meetings, or appointments. The University of Illinois is the number one campus in the US for having students from mainland China. The school is also well known in China, and there is even a campus in China that is pretty much an architectural duplicate of the campus here. This is why having a full timer serving to help with the Chinese speaking work is needed. However, to get an R-1 visa for a serving one we need a building. We have had several Chinese speaking saints ask us if we could provide an R-1 visa, but we always have to say no because we cannot qualify without a owning a building. Presently the Chinese speaking work in Champaign is restricted due to lack of a young full time serving one who can labor with the Chinese speaking students. The building has also ample space for both the English speaking and English speaking students to meet there simultaneously. For these reasons we feel perhaps that some of the saints in Taiwan or mainland China might also be burdened to help with the purchase of this building.
Some details about the building:
The building is 11,000 square feet.
It has 20 bedrooms--we will use 10 for a brother's house, and the rest for children's meetings , hospitality, and other church functions, etc..
It has two useful meeting rooms of 800 Sq. feet and 600 square feet.
It has a large Kitchen
It has 22 parking spaces, two of which are designated handicapped. This total number of spaces meets the city requirements for regular meetings of 85 persons, which exceeds our current need. There is nearby overflow parking that would be adequate to allow for 130 persons when necessary. This would allow us to have district meetings for three districts.
For special circumstances the number could go above 130 with permission from the city.
For periodic larger meetings there a number of venues on campus that we can use. We usually get these venues free of charge because of the campus club, Christians on Campus.
We had it inspected by a professional building inspection company and a professional roofer. There are no major issues. It was completely re-wired about 20 years ago and was brought up to code.
There are new water heaters, refrigerators, washer/dryers.
There has been extensive radiator work.
It has a central Weil-McClain boiler with steam heat.
There is 24/7 alarm monitoring system.
The building is fully sprinkled on all floors. This is a key safety factor. Sprinkler systems can be very expensive to install.
Note: The building is not central air-conditioned. They use small and medium sized units throughout. We will need to buy some.
Some benefits to the church if we could get this building:
Obviously a facility close to campus would still be accessible to all the students, but we would also be much better able to reach the general community members. Having a meeting on campus with primarily students is not attractive to those living in the community. They want to know how their children will be cared for. In this facility we would have rooms available for children of different levels, etc. This way we would be more attractive to families in the community.
We could meet regularly in districts for prophesying.
We could apply for private certified student housing so freshman could live there. (At one time the building had this designation).
We could have a full timer meeting room.
We could possibly operate it like the Student Station in Athens.
Our students could study there.
College meetings could be there.
Obviously, prayer meetings would be there, brothers' coordination meetings, etc.
We would be able to institute a major component of the church life: the many practical services that the saints need to experience in order to be fully rounded.
We would be able to apply for R-1 visa's for international graduates of the FTTA who want to serve. We have had several ask us if they could serve in Champaign, and we had to refuse because we could not obtain the R-1 visa for lack of a building. We need a building to pass the DHS requirements.
There is ample space for both the Chinese speaking students and the English speaking students to meet simultaneously in different rooms.
We would have ten brothers live there so their rent would enable us to maintain the building.
Current status:
It is not yet under contract.
We are in the process of applying for the special use permit through the city planning commission. They have been very helpful and are positive that the city council will vote to issue the permit.
We believe that we can settle on a price of $700,000. It will probably take $150,000 to paint and upgrade the building and meet the ADA requirements. This means that including the upgrades, the total cost is $850,000, or about $77 a square foot.
We currently have $70,000 from the saints locally that w could apply to the closing. We also have a commitment from a local saint for $350,000 towards the building (for five years). This gives a total of $420,000 available locally. Please note that in Central Illinois there are about 140 saints, but only about ten working families. The rest are undergraduate students, grad students, retired couples, or serving saints. So this level of giving from the Central Illinois saints is wonderful.
Because of our high percentage of students, we cannot carry a mortgage. We will need to pay cash for this facility.
The owner wants to close before the end of March. We have another commitment from outside the Midwest for $200,000. This means we have a total available of $620,000 toward closing, so we have an immediate need or $80,000. Note: It is a private deal, no realtor is involved. The fraternity that is currently in the building has a lease that runs to August 1. The owner said that he will give us the $10,000 a month rent check he gets from the fraternity if we close by the end of March. This is quite an incentive to close early. This $10,000 a month will help a lot with the needs to upgrade the facility.
To reiterate, we have a immediate need of $80,000 to close by the end of March. Closing by this date will allow us to receive $10,000 a month from the owner until we take possession, probably in July.
The address of the building is 713 W. Ohio St., Urbana, IL 61801. There is a picture attached, and there are perhaps better pictures on Google maps and Zillow. Actually Champaign and Urbana are sister cities, and half of the campus is in each city. Since most of the saints live in Urbana, if we get this building, we will apply to change the name of the church to the church in Urbana.
If you know of some who desire to contribute, please reply to this email so we know to expect the checks. Please make the checks payable to "the Church in Champaign" Here are the details to mail the checks:
The Church in Champaign
PO Box 17247
Urbana, IL 61803
For the saints in Champaign,
Ken Mooney and Nehemiah Tan.
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