Downtown church seeks community partners, not developers, in reimagining prime real estate

First Baptist Church of Austin has so far turned down tens of millions of dollars from developers looking to capitalize on the nearly 2 acres of downtown real estate it owns. Rather than cashing out and moving to the suburbs, church leaders are looking to partner with other houses of worship – possibly including non-Christian groups – to better utilize the space.

First Baptist attracted attention this week for a publicity campaign announcing its intentions to redevelop the property in partnership with one or more organizations that want to bring community services – including child care and creative space – to the property at the corner of 10th and Trinity streets. Rather than a standard demolition and redevelopment of the sanctuary and adjacent parking garage, senior pastor Rev. Griff Martin said other religious organizations and foundations are among the kinds of groups that may fit well with First Baptist’s plans.

“Our wishlist would include groups that fit our vision. So you’re talking child care, the arts, dealing with the unhoused crisis, economic justice. Those type of groups fit our voice,” he said. “That does not mean that they share our religion at all. In fact, I would actually be really open to groups that are of different denominations or even different religions. We need some great interfaith dialogue happening … bound by our vision and our values, not our religion.”

Martin said the church began receiving inquiries from developers interested in the property in 2020, and two years ago began in-depth discussions with its leadership about plans for the future. The church, which sits on what was originally designated as Hamilton Square when Austin was founded, currently has about 350 members in its congregation.

Martin said church leaders want to stay involved and provide needed services downtown rather than relocating to areas where it would be easier to attract and retain worshippers. While no formal plans to reconfigure the building have been drawn up, he said extensive reconstruction isn’t expected to be necessary.

“The actual skeleton of the building will stay pretty much the same. We don’t want to knock down the building or the parking garage because environmentally that just doesn’t make any sense. And economically right now, we hope that doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “To us, preserving the integrity of the core of that building is important. There is a ton inside. The sanctuary could be a much smaller footprint, and space for art could be much larger in our building and a child care center could easily be shifted in.”

Martin said First Baptist has so far had preliminary talks with one other local congregation for a potential partnership but hasn’t had any further discussions based on the phone calls and emails he’s received in recent days.

While private developers have been drawn to the property, real estate professionals like August Harris, chair of the Downtown Commission, said high interest rates and other financial headwinds could make any substantial construction of the property difficult.

“It’s going to be a challenge just because of the financing that’s going to be involved even though they own the land. You’re still talking about a fairly costly development,” he said. “You’re probably talking tens of millions of dollars to do what they want to do.”

Harris praised the church’s focus on child care and other community benefits and said it could potentially play a role in assisting with the development plans for the nearby HealthSouth property that is expected to feature substantial affordable housing.

“Having the HealthSouth deal fall apart, I believe the city is sending out RFPs to get a new developer with an emphasis on affordable housing. I don’t know if that’s something that the church would want to engage in but the opportunity may be there, whether it’s on that lot or the adjacent lot where their parking garage is,” he said. “That’s a high need for downtown.”

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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Posted In: Development, District 9