How Greentree Community Church Switched Gears Fast in Search for a Home

Greentree Community Church in Kirkwood had to act quickly late last year to acquire funds for land at 100 South Kirkwood Place after a change of plans.

Mindy Owens, director of communications at Greentree, told Patch that the church had intended to renovate space at the Alpine Shop building, where they had purchased the lease. When Alpine exercised an option to renew their lease, Greentree sold the site for $3.15 million, according to a St. Louis Business Journal article.

Greentree acted quickly to raise money in about three months to purchase land instead at 100 South Kirkwood Place, Greentree's Business Manager Michael Porter told Patch. Porter said they closed on the more than 3.5-acre parcel Dec. 21 for $3.7 million, needing half of the funds to claim it.

"It will not be a building just used on Sunday," Porter said. "We plan to use the building during the week and make it a facility for the community to use."

Reflecting on Greentree's beginnings roughly 15 years ago, Owens said church services and activities were held in several different venues throughout Kirkwood. The church is currently operating Sunday services at North Kirkwood Middle School, with administrative offices at 132 East Monroe.

"It was our intention not to buy a building," Owens said. "We wanted to be more about people and serving people, but about three to five years ago, we realized it was a time to change our thoughts about a building on several different fronts."

Greentree, with a congregation Porter estimates at 425 members, anchors two Sunday services at North Kirkwood Middle and activities throughout the week. 

Porter said "things are slowing down" and details of a building plan and specific space usage are in the very beginnings of the works.

"We're figuring things out to see what our capacity is," Porter told Patch. "We want it to be a facility for all of the community to use at any time."

Porter said their hope is to be able to break ground at the new site within 12 to 18 months.

For service and activity information, visit Greentree's website.

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