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(Image: Seattle First Baptist Church)

By Jadenne Radoc Cabahug, CHS reporting intern

(Image: Meriwether Advisors)

Part of the First Hill neighborhood for 110 years, Harvard Ave’s landmark Seattle First Baptist Church is on the market and lining its valuable land up for redevelopment.

Any deal will be a partnership and, the church’s community hopes, the structure will remain as part of the new project

Rev. Anita Peebles said the church is seeking a development partner to collaborate with the church’s council of ministries and work with the neighborhoods and communities that a redevelopment process will impact.

“We love our Capitol Hill and First Hill neighbors and we’re really dedicated to staying here to serving this neighborhood, and really trying to respond to the needs that we see within the neighborhood,” Peebles said.

The landmarks-protected church is known for its beautiful sanctuary space that hosts various events throughout the year for different community organizations.

Doug Holtom, executive director of the First Hill Improvement Association said the church itself is an asset to the First Hill neighborhood due to the historic architecture of the building.

Holtom said many residents on First Hill “admire the building that Seattle First Baptist Church occupies.”

The process to redevelop the Archdiocese’s property at St. James Cathedral could be a model where developer Westbank has plans to create some 1,300 new units of housing across the neighborhood’s core while preserving the 115-year-old cathedral and its grounds.

According to Meriwether Advisors, the firm leading the process to find a developer for the Seattle First Baptist Church property, the church has a need to upgrade its facilities and says SFBC “gathered data that helped them recognize changes necessary to thrive, to be a relevant community in the current environment and in their location, and to address barriers to achieving their vision.”

(Image: Merriwether Advisors)

(Image: Merriwether Advisors)

“Their hope is to make changes that as much as possible preserve SFBC’s present form and create facilities and programs that are true to their current mission and that may not exist in service of the mission,” the development pitch for the property reads.

A prospective development might include flexible space for meeting and worshipping, “a ‘green’ building that demonstrates commitment to and programmatic support for climate action and environmental sustainability,” “below-market-cost space rentals to nonprofits and community groups,” and more mundane but necessary elements like church administrative office spaces, flexible staff meeting spaces, and a large, centralized storage facility.

Meriwether Advisors is listing the property as “Unpriced, Best Offer.”

Peebles said the church also wants to preserve SFBC’s present form and create facilities or programs that align with their current mission. These include renovating current church spaces like their multi-purpose room, gymnasium, parking lots and looking to incorporate new facilities like green spaces, living areas for pastors and staff as well as potential affordable housing.

According to Peebles, the church is prioritizing making their building more accessible and energy friendly. The environmental impact of the redevelopment process is at front and center of the church’s decision making process.

“If we do choose at some time in the future to move forward with any development partner, it would have to be a group that really understands the values of our congregation and the things that we want to do in the Seattle Community,” Peebles said.

First Hill’s houses of worship have been part of the neighborhood’s housing growth. Recent project include a 27-story, 226-unit mixed use condo building next to Trinity Parish at 8th and Cherry.

Meanwhile, other church properties have been shuttered including the Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church on Harvard which has remained empty since 2019. The Archdiocese of Seattle is also looking at shuttering area houses of worship St. Patrick’s and St. Mary’s over declining attendance and rising costs.

Peebles said churches nationwide are redeveloping their properties since church membership is declining and regular attendees are getting older. At this moment, they are taking into careful consideration what redeveloping their property will have on the communities and neighborhoods they serve.

Potential development partners have until December 9th to send a letter of intent, Meriwether Advisors said.

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Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.