[bigsmooth]

i wonder what the neighborhood people would think??

TRBC hopes VA will set sites on former LCA
Ron Brown
rbrown@newsadvance.com
December 23, 2006

Thomas Road Baptist Church will aggressively market the former Lynchburg Christian Academy buildings as a potential site for a proposed Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic in Lynchburg.

The Lynchburg VA clinic is scheduled to open sometime in 2007 and is expected to serve about 5,000 veterans in its first year of operation.

Jerry Falwell Jr. said the overtures to the VA will be part of a broader plan to either sell or lease church-owned properties on the 30-acre site on Thomas Road near Lynchburg College.

“A lease would allow the church to hold onto the properties and still generate some income,” Falwell Jr. said.

Included in the site are the church’s former worship center, its parking lots, several houses and a number of buildings used by LCA.

There is also a small parcel zoned for business.

Falwell Jr. said he could sell or lease the properties for several types of uses.

All together, the land would carry a price tag of $6.5 million. If the land is sold or leased separately, the components would be considerably less expensive.

“There could be a perfect marriage between the VA Clinic and Lynchburg College,” Falwell said. “In the past, Lynchburg College has indicated they are interested in the parking lots across the street. In the more distant past, they were interested in the auditorium.”

If an agreement can’t be reached with the VA or the college, some of the land could be opened up to residential development.

“We have numerous types of developers who will do duplexes,” said Chris Doyle of CB Richard Ellis, a Richmond firm helping to market the property.

Right now, about 15 acres of the property is zoned R-3, which would allow for duplexes or single-family homes.

Another 13 acres is zoned R-2, which allows single-family houses.

About 1.4 acres is zoned B-2, which would allow the development of a small strip mall for the neighborhood or, perhaps, a convenience store.

Falwell Jr. said the former church building could serve as an auditorium for Lynchburg College or as the new sanctuary for another church.

“Right now, we’ve had several local churches expressing interest, but the whole complex was too big or too expensive,” he said

[PAmedic]

wild guess here: they will still hate Jerry and LU