New Eastpoint Church more Patrick Ewing than St. Patrick's Cathedral
A 92,000-square-foot space in a South Portland shopping plaza that once housed a pair of big-box stores has a surprising new tenant — the Eastpoint Christian Church of Portland.
The church plans to spend a $7 million to purchase the pair of sites and nearly six acres of land on Clark’s Pond Parkway, that was once home to a Bob’s Discount Furniture and HomeGoods location, with funds from the Solomon Foundation, a nonprofit investment group in Parker, Colo., that helps to establish Christian churches and ministries, according to the Portland Press Herald.
Kurt Holmgren, Eastpoint’s outreach pastor, said that inspiration to purchase the expansive space struck leaders of the church when they paid a visit to the 242 Community Church in Brighton, Mich.
Instead of the solemn and low-key atmosphere traditionally expected in what is, after all, a place of worship, the pastors were greeted by large-screen TVs playing sports news, a soccer field, a cross-fit center and the hustle and bustle more associated with a sport’s arena than a holy house.
“They were offering the building as a gift to the community and that’s what we want to do,” Holmgren told the Press Herald. “We could probably satisfy the needs of our church with 50,000 square feet, but we want to be more for the community.”
Eastpoint will be bringing a similar atmosphere to the former South Portland shopping plaza sites with plans that include constructing a 1,500-seat auditorium, an indoor soccer field and a basketball court.
The city Planning Board will need to review the project’s site plan. The church hopes to move into the new space as early as February 2017.
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