A Church Made a Mall Its Home. Twenty-One Years Later, It Is Selling 851,000 Square Feet for $15 Million

• Summer Grove Baptist Church is leaving the former South Park Mall in Shreveport, Louisiana, after 21 years.
• The 851,064-square-foot mall on more than 80 acres is listed for $15 million.
• The congregation voted in August 2025 to sell; attendance has fallen from 1,600 at its first service to 400 to 500.
• A major lease with Burlington Coat Factory ended in 2025, cutting income while costs stayed high.

A Louisiana church that made its home in a shopping mall is putting the whole property up for sale. The Shreveport-Bossier Advocate reported that Summer Grove Baptist Church is leaving the former South Park Mall after 21 years.

The enclosed mall at 8924 Jewella Avenue covers 851,064 square feet on more than 80 acres, with frontage on Highway 3132 and Jewella Avenue. It is zoned Commercial-Urban Village, which allows mixed-use development, and has been listed for $15 million with Walker/Alley & Associates LLC Real Estate Resources.

The congregation voted in August 2025 to sell. Attendance has fallen from 1,600 at the church’s first service there to between 400 and 500. A major lease with Burlington Coat Factory ended in 2025, reducing the church’s rental income while the costs of running the property remained high. Dr David Dies said the church would stay during the sale process while it looks for a new home.

Realtor Raymond Alley said: “We feel strongly that this property is primed for an adaptive reuse.” He suggested possibilities including research facilities. The mall sits in the Southern Hills area, where SLB has announced an expansion at the former General Motors facility and an Amazon Web Services data centre is planned.

The story shows both sides of a church acting as a landlord. Commercial tenants can help pay for a very large building, but when a key tenant leaves and the congregation shrinks, the property can become a burden. Jamaican churches that own shops, plazas or rental units alongside their sanctuaries should plan for vacancies and falling membership, not just for good years. For investors, church-owned commercial property that comes to market can be a real opportunity, especially when the surrounding area is attracting new employers.

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