Monday, Sept. 16, 2013
By Alexandra Clough
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
And the hottest real estate buy these days is….a church? A 22,000 square foot church on five acres in suburban West Palm Beach was put up for sale recently, with a test-the-waters price of $3.5 million. To the surprise of broker Rebel Cook, inquiries were strong “and the phone rang every single day.” “Churches do sell” said Cook, of Rebel Cook Real Estate in Palm Beach Gardens.
The property, owned by the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ of Belle Glade, wa sold to Trinity Church International West for $2.96 million and closed last month.
A reason for the interest: Churches are hard to come by, Cook said. They typically want a visible spot that can be acquired at a reasonable price. But densely populated areas sometimes balk because of the accompanying traffic after services. “It’s not easy to get a church zoned,” Cook Said.