Historic Black Lexington church has to spar with city, park over permanent parking
A historic Black Lexington church, the city and Town Branch Park leaders are sparring over church parking potentially lost in the construction of the proposed green space and the expansion of the Central Bank Center.
Main Street Baptist Church leaders said they need a permanent solution that will allow them guaranteed long-term parking. In total, the church needs about 250 parking spaces for the 300-member congregation, church leaders have said. Proposals from the city and the park would create a financial hardship for the church, its lawyer says.
Main Street — one of the city’s oldest Black churches after its founding in 1862 — is often referred to as the “mother church” by other Black churches in Lexington and the surrounding area.
“I just want to say in support of the Main Street that for 125 years, Main Street has been like the Mother Church, not only to Shiloh, but to many other churches in our city,” said Rev. Joseph Owens of Shiloh Baptist Church during a recent meeting. “And we are all watching and waiting to see how our beloved city is going to handle our beloved Mother Church in this very tedious dilemma that we’ve found ourselves in. We do understand the bittersweet moments of progress that often comes at the expense of vulnerable people who sometimes get pushed to the margins.”
The dispute between Main Street Baptist Church and city leaders goes back more than 30 years.
Main Street Baptist was set to purchase a building behind its Main Street property for parking in 1985. City officials purchased it instead for the convention center and Rupp Arena, now known as Central Bank Center.
Then-Mayor Scotty Baesler promised church leaders they could use the new surface parking lot behind Rupp Arena for its members. That oral agreement has been honored by officials with the Lexington Center Corporation, which runs the Central Bank Center, for 36 years. It was never put in writing.
The current expansion of the convention center and Rupp Arena meant that the surface parking lot could no longer be used. Plans call for the proposed Town Branch Park to eventually go over that parking lot.
In 2018, Main Street Baptist and the city came to a temporary agreement that would allow the church to park on a section of the now torn down Jefferson Street bridge that abuts Main Street. The entrance to that bridge separates the church’s two properties.
In return, Lexington Center Corporation also promised that when the Central Bank Center expansion was completed, the church could use parking spaces in its new garage on Sundays and other days if Central Bank Center did not need those parking spaces for its events.
“The parking arrangement for Main Street Baptist Church to use LCC (Lexington Center Corp) parking at no charge remains in effect. And, as of 2018, the agreement was put in writing, which provides a stronger guarantee for the church’s future use of the new LCC parking garage,” said Susan Straub, a spokeswoman for the city. “We also are continuing discussions with church leadership about additional options and enhancements.”
But church leaders said there is no guarantee that parking spaces will be available for the church in the new garage. To boot, when Town Branch Park is completed, there is no parking in the area for visitors. It’s likely that park visitors will also use the Central Bank Center’s garage.
In January, after repeated pleas to meet with city and park leaders, the church proposed tearing down its 1964 chapel at 582 Main Street to create a new entrance to the proposed Town Branch Park. In exchange, the city would give the church the section of what remains of Jefferson Street to create parking spaces. That proposal would create 170 parking spaces on church property. The church also sought a guarantee that it could have 80 parking spaces in the new Central Bank Garage.
On March 23, park, city and church officials met via Zoom. The park designers and city officials offered an alternative solution: Tear down the church’s newer building. The 1964 building on one side of Jefferson Street is in a historic district. The newer building that park designers had proposed to be torn down is not in a historic district.
“The government’s option would require the church to give up its two most valuable and usable buildings, the chapel and the Braxton Building and require the church to spend approximately $500,000 to $1,000,000 or more to renovate and remodel the old church sanctuary,” said Bruce Simpson, a lawyer for the church. “In addition, the church would have to pay off its $750,000 debt on the chapel before conveying it to LFUCG for demolition.”
Simpson said it’s not impossible to tear down a building in a historic district as the church offered. The city’s Board of Architectural Review would need to sign off on it, he said.
Simpson told city and park leaders Friday that the city’s proposal won’t work.
“We also requested that two representatives from the church meet and work with the design team to arrive at a mutually beneficial modification of the park’s design so as to address the parking needs of the church and the public,” Simpson said. “Their proposal would cost the church at least $1.5 million to get 57 parking spaces.”
Sasaki is overseeing the Town Branch Park design. Construction on the proposed nearly 10-acre park will not begin until the completion of the renovations and expansion of Central Bank Center, likely sometime in 2022.
When completed, the park will be nearly 10 acres and stretch behind the church to Oliver Lewis Way bridge. The park is privately funded.
Allison Lankford, executive director of Town Branch Park, said the park is trying diligently to find a solution that works for both the park and the church.
“As we listen and learn, we are committed to providing options and enhancements that recognize and honor the important history and future of the church and congregation,” Lankford said.
Lexington Fayette Urban County Councilman Richard Moloney said Mayor Linda Gorton’s Commission on Racial Justice and Equality, which released 54 recommendations to address racial inequality in the city, specifically mentioned gentrification and displacement of minority populations. If Main Street Baptist Church does not have permanent parking, it will not survive, Moloney said. The historic Black church has been in downtown since the 1860s. It should remain there, he said.
“If we can’t fix this parking issue, how are we going to address the other 54 recommendations?” Moloney said.
The church may have lost its property to downtown development before.
In 1863, the deed to the Main Street Baptist Church’s property showed the property line extending to what was then a railroad that was behind Rupp Arena. The church no longer owns that property. It’s not clear if the railroad took that land by eminent domain, which allows public utilities or governments to take land for public use, said Rev. Victor Sholar of Main Street Baptist.
That land is now owned by the Lexington Center Corporation and will eventually be transferred to Town Branch Park.
Sholar said the church is frustrated. Church leaders have repeatedly come to the city and Town Branch Park to remind them of its parking problems created when the city undercut the church to buy property for the Rupp Arena and convention center expansion in the 1980s. The city promised to take care of the church’s parking at that time.
“That agreement has not been honored,” Sholar said.
This story was originally published March 30, 2021 at 7:14 AM.
CORRECTION: Bruce Simpson is the lawyer for Main Street Baptist Church. Simpson’s client was incorrectly noted in an earlier version of the story.
