ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) - A central Indiana church has emerged from bankruptcy after filing last year when it wasn’t able to make a $5.8 million balloon payment on a construction loan.
The repayment of Madison Park Church of God’s loan has since been renegotiated, and the roughly 3,000-family congregation church in Anderson is now on a new payment schedule to repay the debt in full, said Rob Spaulding, the church’s business administrator.
“We refinanced it with the bond holders,” he said. “The court proceedings were necessary to bind everyone to the agreement.”
The church filed in July for Chapter 11 reorganization over a nearly $17.5 million loan from 2007 to pay for construction of its community life center near the Interstate 69 interchange with Indiana 9 on the city’s south side, The Herald Bulletin reported (https://bit.ly/1kjD9MH ) Monday.
David Whitmoyer, vice chairman of the church’s board of elders, said there was no debt reduction from the court proceedings but that negotiations with creditors were unsuccessful until the bankruptcy was filed.
“We had known for a couple of years we would not be able to make those payments,” he said.
Church officials said it still plans to sell about 100 acres surrounding its property.
Spaulding said a senior housing group will be developing about 16 acres in the near future and eventually the church would like to see new retail outlets in the area.
The church is moving forward thanks to the support of its congregation and new interest rates, he said.
“We certainly held our own and have been very stable through all of this,” he said. “But this really gives us a very stable platform for us to move forward.”
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Information from: The Herald Bulletin, https://www.theheraldbulletin.com
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