Northwest Christian Church (Dental Depot)

[Pete]

This property was recently sold to Ashmore Investments, which is the owner / developer of Dental Depot.

I suspect that's what we'll see developed on this site.

It's right next to NW Classen High School at 2828 NW 30th and sold for $900,000.

[warreng88]

Dental Deport? But their main location is at 23rd and Drexel, which is less than a mile away...

[bombermwc]

They must have had a huge shrinkage in congregation. Looks like from their website that they meet at Village Christian Church on Britton. It doesn't look like from their website that they merged, but rather are sharing a building....weird.

Sad to see it go. And with First Christian up on 235 probably closing when they sell that land, its a sad time.

[Pete]

Dental Deport? But their main location is at 23rd and Drexel, which is less than a mile away...

Right, could be something else but the same group has built several Dental Depots and seemingly nothing else.

[Urbanized]

That 23rd and Drexel location is their original/flagship, but Dental Depot is now more than anything a franchise model and development company. The original dentist now franchises this brand to other dentists and the company builds the new locations. Not sure if it is still in the same location, but a few years ago I visited the design/fabrication facility, which was housed in a part of the old Little Giant Pump factory/distribution center off of NW 36th. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that the location being discussed in this thread would be an unlikely spot for a new DD if the original remains in operation.

[Mr. Cotter]

This could be very interesting if it becomes anything other than a Dental Depot. This stretch of May could easily support a good mid-market restaurant/service development. The Dental Depot on 23rd isn't small, but maybe they need more office space for their franchise operations.

[TheTravellers]

They must have had a huge shrinkage in congregation. Looks like from their website that they meet at Village Christian Church on Britton. It doesn't look like from their website that they merged, but rather are sharing a building....weird.

Sad to see it go. And with First Christian up on 235 probably closing when they sell that land, its a sad time.

Village Christian Church has had a shrinking congregation for years and are struggling - they already shared their building (great building, BTW) with another church before NW Christian Church, so there's 3 churches meeting there now, apparently...

Heard that the NWCC bldg will be repurposed, but I doubt that'll happen if it's going to become a Dental Depot.

[Pete]

Heard that the NWCC bldg will be repurposed, but I doubt that'll happen if it's going to become a Dental Depot.

The Dental Depot thing was just speculation on my part.

I should have their full plans soon.

[Mr. Cotter]

Cool. I'm excited to see the plans. I know a charter school had looked at buying this building last year. I thought that would have been a good use for the existing building.

This is within walking distance of my house, so I'm rooting for the long shot option of a place to buy a decent sandwich.

[rezman]

It would be a shame to see it razed. I love a lot the old church building architecture around town, especially the structures with tall steeples. I always did like what I would term as a mid century design feature of setting the building on the lot at an angle.. A feature I also liked about NW Classen next door, and PC High.

The Central Presbyterian Church at 50th & May has similar architecture, and was almost razed in favor of a CVS, which ultimately was built across the street where the old Stones IGA was.

[bombermwc]

I would also hate to see it go. There are some very interesting Disciples churches out there like NW, Village, Del City, First, etc. Some real unique architecture that would be a shame to lose.

[vcat]

This makes me sad. There used to be a day care center in the basement of this church. I worked there for a long time. A lot of memories....

[Pete]

Was able to determine this church will be converted to a corporate office building with the possibility of additions.

So, looks like the main structure will be preserved.

[cinnamonjock]

That's better than it being razed and made into another one of those tacky dental places, at least.

[luke911]

According to a person I know involved with the sale of the church, Dental Depot itself are planning to move their corporate offices from the Drexel/19th St location over to this building. They plan on keeping the gym and upgrading it. The sanctuary has asbestos so that will have to be remediated before much work can begin. The rest of the structure had it's asbestos removed during flood repairs years ago and other projects.

[Pete]

^

Thanks very much for the info.

[zefferoni]

Hm, I wonder what that'd mean for their 19th and Drexel office? Right now it's just them and (I think) a drug testing place. Might be a good spot for a neighborhood shop or something.

[Pete]

The building permit has been issued and work should be starting soon.

Steeple and columns in front of the former church will be demoed. Sanctuary will be split into two levels.

[mugofbeer]

Hm, I wonder what that'd mean for their 19th and Drexel office? Right now it's just them and (I think) a drug testing place. Might be a good spot for a neighborhood shop or something.

Used to be a great little neighborhood drug store with a soda fountain. lt would make a cool little pizza or burger place.

[Pete]

Renovation is now well underway.

[Celebrator]

Adaptive re-use! Love it. I hope this town can see more of these types of projects--just seems so much less wasteful than demo and rebuild. If the numbers work, then go for it.

[Pete]

And let's face it, we have tons of churches around town that are vastly under-used.

That happens when you keep building these huge mega-churches. It's not like they are getting people new to church-going, they are just moving from existing churches.

There are two huge churches very near my house (close to Penn Square) and their congregations are a tiny fraction of what they once were.

[bombermwc]

There's definitely been a trend away from attending church and when you combine that with the changes towards the TV churches, it's not an awesome outlook for the traditional setup churches. They either have to find a way to adapt, or the future is grim. As socio-economics change in a given area, the attendance tends to drop.

I dont personally like the TV church model, but i would also say that if the people that attend those churches weren't getting something out of them then they probably wouldn't be there. And they are also attending those churches because they weren't feeling connected at their previous church. If it means more people are being brought to the church, i can't be against it. Do I wish more people were attending my church? Yes, of course. But our last pastor often made a disclaimer when he asked about inviting people to church. His request was to "bring someone new to church, that isn't attending church". The idea being that if we are taking from another congregation, then we're not really getting God +1, we're just -1 here and +1 over here. Be the reflected light and the example and bring someone new to the FAITH.

[5alive]

Yes! ^^^^

[shawnw]