The future of the Resurrection Church in Assen remains uncertain. The Marsdijk Foundation flourished would love to buy the church, but the asking price of 1 million euros turned out to be too large a stumbling block. Two other interested parties were also not willing to put the desired amount on the table.
All three bids have therefore been rejected. As the owner of the church building, the church council of the Protestant church Assen has decided today to stop the sale for the time being. After the summer holidays there may be a second sales round. What it looks like is still unknown.
Chairman Gerard Schoep of the Church Council calls the state of affairs regarding the sale of the church ‘surprising and disappointing’. “But that we are stopping now, it was decided on the basis of the advice of our assessment committee. It has been set especially for the sale and believes that the three bids do not meet the criteria. So we stop, take a break to start a new sales process after the summer vacation.”
One of those criteria was that the church building had to yield at least 1 million. The church council also thinks that this was not successful. “It is really worth it, we didn’t have the building appraised for nothing,” says Schoep.
The Resurrection Church is for sale since this year, because too few people are still going to church, and from now on all services in the Jozefkerk are held in the center. The Marsdijk Foundation blooms, in which various organizations have united, wants to convert the church into a second district meeting center. There has been a great need for extra space for ages, because De Dissel community center is fully booked and more space is needed for all activities in the neighborhood.
With a crowdfunding campaign, the foundation won more than 1 million euros in recent months. This involved more than 850,000 euros in loans from private individuals from the neighborhood and around 20,000 euros in donations. Furthermore, the Protestant Diaconie in Marsdijk decided to participate for 250,000 euros. They made an offer in May, just under 1 million euros, and have since been eagerly waiting for the outcome. Who of the three buyers will it be?
Rudolf Setz, one of the kidlingers of Marsdijk blooms, calls it ‘a sad outcome’. “We were not far from the asking price, but they did not grant us. We really couldn’t offer more, also because you should take the transfer tax into account. This was the financial border for us.”
Setz and the other stakeholders of the Marsdijk Foundation are now licking their wounds. “We will all need time to process this. The entire process has long lasted, with earlier setbacks,” Setz refers to the decision of the Asser City Council not to grant no one -off contribution of 450,000 euros in April.
“Nevertheless, we always continued with great enthusiasm and energy. We really had a vision for the neighborhood,” said Setz. “We will now have to think about what we are going to do. Perhaps we will soon focus on a different location.”
Yet the Resurrection Church for the foundation is not yet a closed book. “There is a possibility that there will be another bidding procedure at a later time. But that is still unclear at the moment,” says Setz. “Fortunately, the holiday period now starts, time for reflection.”
According to Chairman Schoep, the time of ‘reconsideration’, according to chairman Schoep, is starting to hold a second sales round in September. “We are stuck that we want to sell the Resurrection Church. So we will start a sales process again. But there is a good chance that it will be different in a different way than this first.”
In what way, Schoep cannot yet say. “We are going to take a break, and think about it quietly. One-on-one sale is a possible option, with an interested party with which we will negotiate a targeted asking price. But first a break.”