A FENCE IS UP NOW IN FRONT OF THE OLD BUILDING TO KEEP CARS AND PEDESTRIANS OUT FOR SAFETY
PURCHASED BY THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH...THE PROPERTY WILL BE USED FOR PARKING
Underway now, work have started tearing down what has become a Hendersonville landmark of sorts...the former Hendersonville Post Office building on Fifth Avenue West.
Pastor Steve Scoggins of Hendersonville’s First Baptist Church confirmed for WHKP News that the church has a contract with the Copper Construction Company to tear down and demolish the old post office building...and that process and that work is underwasy this week..
The church acquired the old post office building and the 1.52 acre lot it sits on last July 1st for $1,003,000. And as Rev. Scoggins points out, the building will be demolished, the whole lot paved, and it will then be used for badly needed parking for the church. That plan, says Scoggins, has been approved by the city.
.Rev. Scoggins says the building itself is in such bad condition that tearing it down will be a blessing for the community, and the added parking spaces will also be a blessing not only for the church but for so many downtown events.
No definite date has been set for completion of the project. Scoggins says all the old asphalt in the current parking lot must be taken up and some design work for water run-off must be done...so, he says, “We’ll get it done as soon as possible.”
‘We’ve always tried to be a blessing to the community”, says Scoggins...so the new lot, when it is finished, will be available when its not in use by the church on Sundays...and he expects the church to fill it up on Sundays.
That new lot, says Rev. Scoggins, will park around 130 vehicles, maybe a few more than that. As for the cost of the new parking lot, in addition to the million dollars purchase prices, Rev. Scoggins didn’t give an exact figure but said the cost is more than expected, but the church has almost paid off the debt of buying the property and “...we have donations on hand that I believe will enable us to do this without further debt.”
“God has been good”, says Scoggins...”We are growing and because of that we have growing pains...over the last three decades we have a lot of good buildings...but parking has been our most pressing need and we are now addressing that..”
The U.S. Postal Service re-located the Hendersonville Post Office to the Blue Ridge Mall in the former Sears store location and that move was completed back in the spring.
By Larry Freeman with Tippy Creswell
