73 Acres, $36.5 Million: A Catholic Diocese Sells Land It Bought in 1991 for a High School and Homes

• The Diocese of Charlotte bought the land in 1991 for future church growth
• Woodfield Development paid $36.5 million for 73 acres
• 55 acres went to the public school system for a new high school; 18 acres are for housing
• Proceeds fund new parish land, facility upgrades and a vocations endowment

A North Carolina Catholic diocese has turned land it bought three decades ago into a school site, a housing community and a fund for its own future, the Catholic News Herald reported.

The Diocese of Charlotte sold 73 acres of surplus land at North Community House and Johnston roads in south Charlotte to Woodfield Development for $36.5 million, with the sale closing on March 15, 2022. The developer kept 18 acres for a housing community and sold the other 55 acres to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for a new public high school to ease crowding at existing schools.

The diocese had bought the land in 1991, expecting it would be needed for church growth. Under the Vatican-approved plan, proceeds will fund capital investments, including buying more land for parish expansion, improving facilities, and an endowment for the diocese’s vocations programme, which had 41 seminarians.

“This arrangement was a great collaboration and provides for public, private and Church interests,” said Anthony Morlando, director of diocesan properties. “Growth is a defining narrative for Charlotte and for the diocese, and this sale will help us plan for and accommodate that growth long into the future.” Monsignor Patrick Winslow, the vicar general, said: “As a young diocese of just 50 years, these types of capital investments and endowments are important.”

The deal is a textbook case of land banking by a church. Land bought cheaply ahead of growth became far more valuable as the city expanded, and the diocese chose to sell only what it considered surplus and to reinvest the proceeds in its own long-term needs.

For Jamaican churches, many of which hold land acquired decades ago in areas that are now urbanising, the Charlotte example raises practical questions. Is the land titled and valued? Is some of it surplus to mission? Could a sale or partnership produce schools or homes while funding the church’s future? Deciding those questions deliberately is better than leaving idle land to squatting or decay.

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