Its Church Collapsed, the Old Site Is Becoming Apartments, and Its New Home Cost $1

• Engaging Heaven Ministries lost its home when the First Congregational Church building on Federal Street, New London, Connecticut, collapsed on January 25, 2024.
• Eastern Connecticut Housing Opportunities (ECHO) bought the old site for $125,000 in July 2024 and plans apartments.
• ECHO assumed the congregation’s debts, including a $250,000 city lien for clean-up costs.
• The congregation is buying the Second Congregational Church building on Broad Street for $1.

A Connecticut congregation whose building collapsed has found a new home at a nominal price. WFSB reported that Engaging Heaven Ministries has acquired a new building in New London.

The congregation had worshipped in the First Congregational Church building on Federal Street, which collapsed on January 25, 2024. In July 2024 the site was bought by Eastern Connecticut Housing Opportunities (ECHO) for $125,000. ECHO also took on the congregation’s debts, including a $250,000 city lien for the clean-up, and intends to develop apartments on the property.

The congregation is now buying the Second Congregational Church building on Broad Street for $1. The previous owner, listed as Miracle Temple Church, offered the property at that price, and the closing was scheduled for the following week. Pastor James Levesque, who negotiated both the exit from the old site and the new purchase, announced plans for the congregation’s “first service in the new building on October 13th.”

The arrangement turned a disaster into something close to a fresh start. A housing organisation took on a damaged site and its debts, and another church passed on a building it no longer needed.

The collapse is a sharp reminder of what deferred maintenance can do to old church buildings, some of which in Jamaica are well over a century old and exposed to hurricanes and earthquakes. Regular structural inspections cost far less than a collapse. The New London deals also show how church property can move between congregations and housing providers when everyone is willing to be flexible. For Jamaican churches with buildings they no longer need, passing them on to another congregation or a housing group can be a better outcome than letting them decay.

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