Case Studies
How We’ve Helped Faith-Based Organizations Like Yours Optimize the Use of Their Real Estate Assets
Claremont
SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY
Property:
1325 N College Ave, Claremont, California
Claremont School of Theology is fully recognized as one of the 13 official theological schools of the United Methodist Church and maintains close relations with other Protestant denominations. With its current location in Claremont, California, the school dates back to 1885 and its “newer” buildings were built in the early 1970s.
Challenge
As Claremont’s seventh president, Jeffrey Kuan began his term in 2013 and faced serious challenges that jeopardized the school’s profitability. These included the delay in maintenance and the outdated buildings, the evolution of the student population, and the fundamental changes in education and learning models, each of which required extensive consideration and investment, since each of them was a fundamental component for the sustainability and heritage of the school.
After completing his strategic plan, Kuan knew that he needed to seriously look at his campus. With 16.4 acres in beautiful Southern California, he knew he had a valuable asset and wanted to use his strategic plan to understand options to “make the most and best” of the land, whether through consolidation, sale or lease.
Solution
Kuan knew that his team lacked the experience needed to do this type of work. Therefore, he hired Dominic to help him in the following areas:
- The strategic differentiation process included planning and communication. Dominic created a strategic plan that complemented and integrated the campus master plan. Not only did he show the school what they needed to do right away, but also the options they had to better position themselves in 5 to 10 years. The communication process was fundamental and key to the school’s success was to engage, inform and support the diverse stakeholders.
- Land use analysis services that help to understand the “current state” and identify options for the future:
- Dominic examined the property and provided a realistic picture of the delay in maintenance and what was needed to update everything, including structural work, seismic work, geological studies, etc.
- Dominic made recommendations on how to make the most of office and classroom space, including consolidation and modernization. This had to take into account the transition from school to hybrid forms of online teaching and the need for classrooms to have improved technology. The recommendations included looking at student dorms differently, as some of the students only come to campus for three weeks a year instead of needing year-round accommodation.
- Brokerage Services: Dominic worked with the school to sell the specified building and land to generate the capital needed to rebuild, improve and invest. All of this will help revitalize the school’s mission to prepare students to become agents of transformation and healing in churches, local communities, schools, non-profit agencies and around the world.
Centerville
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Property:
3858 Bonde Way, Fremont, California
Centerville Presbyterian Church is similar to many other churches in California and faces the very real and growing challenge of finding affordable housing for key employees (youth, musicians, pastors and other pastors, and administrative staff). Dominic was commissioned to carry out a feasibility analysis on the possibility of building 8 to 12 residential units (townhouses) on leftover land owned by the church.
Challenge
Their goal is to have market-rate units that can be leased to subsidize the rent of the remaining units, units that can be leased to key employees at affordable rates. This would strengthen the church’s efforts to recruit and retain key staff, an important factor for the future sustainability of any church ministry.
Solution
The project was one of the first (of two) projects to use the newly introduced process to prioritize general changes to the plan. As part of the process, Dominic presented the project to both the Planning Commission and the City Council. Both unanimously accepted the project to comply with our request for claims and were also given top priority. Dominic led the claim process for 8 rented townhouses. The project was presented as a condominium plan to allow the church more flexibility in the future (in case financial difficulties forced it to sell a unit). The project received applications in the first quarter of 2018 and Dominic led the construction process until its completion.