Legacy Owensboro Church closed on the former Malco Theatre location Friday. After months of waiting for the new Malco Owensboro Cinema Grill to open in Gateway Commons and for the church to acquire the needed loan to secure the 50,000-square foot property, officials say everyone is ecstatic to finally be moving forward.
“It’s been a long time coming–about a year-and-a-half,” said realtor Jim Estes, with the Greater Owensboro Realty Company. “There’s always moving parts to something like this, but we feel really great right now.”
Legacy pastor Jeff Phillips echoed that statement, calling the official closing on the property “one of the most exciting things that can happen for a church congregation.”
“I’ve got the keys in my hand as of today,” he said. “We signed the papers yesterday, but I just got the keys today. It is official. We are now the wonderful new owners of a 50,000 square foot building.”
After nine years of operation, Phillips said this has been a long-awaited goal of Legacy’s–to own property instead of rent. The church is currently located at 3300 Frederica Street and has had issues with space and parking as the church continues to grow.
“We can finally put our own flavor into our building,” he said. “We’re very fortunate.”
Demolition is expected to begin within the next week, Estes said.
After an engineer takes a look at the interior and exterior of the building, the seating will be removed from the inside and contractors will begin changing the layout as well.
