Building sale worries Catholic Charities

Catholic Charities of Spokane says it is being forced to move out of the Chancery by Dec. 1 after the stately white building on West Riverside Avenue was sold this month to satisfy church bankruptcy debts.

“It’s not great timing but it is what it is,” Rob McCann, executive director of Catholic Charities, said of the pending move just before the crush of Christmas charity work.

The Spokane Catholic Diocese agreed to sell the Chancery, also called the Catholic Pastoral Center, to Centennial Properties Inc. for $2.05 million. Centennial Properties is a real estate development subsidiary of Cowles Co., which also publishes The Spokesman-Review.

Steve Rector, secretary-treasurer of Cowles Co., said there is no effort to evict Catholic Charities.

“Our intention is to accommodate as best we can,” he said. “It’s not our intention to boot them out of there. We’d love to work with them.”

He said he plans to meet today with the diocese business manager about the building.

McCann and Rector agreed that neither had spoken to one another about the status of Catholic Charities’ lease. The nonprofit, which is independent of the diocese, now pays about $2,000 a month for first-floor space housing 15 offices and a reception desk.

McCann acknowledged that sum was likely well below market value. Following discussions with Bishop William Skylstad, he believed the sale was the equivalent of a “de facto eviction.”

Catholic Charities has plans to group its employees into a new headquarters building as early as 2008, McCann said. He declined to talk about the details, but said the administrative offices would be temporarily housed in the basement of the St. Anne’s Children and Family Center.

The nonprofit has staff and services scattered throughout Spokane and pays about $100,000 a year in office rent.

“Our plans must now be accelerated,” McCann said. “We knew this day was coming, but we’re disappointed our lease wasn’t addressed in the sale agreement” the diocese struck with Cowles Co.

Rector said Cowles Co. is interested in working with Catholic Charities, however the sale has yet to be formally approved by the U.S. bankruptcy judge overseeing the case.

Catholic Charities is the largest faith-based nonprofit charity in Eastern Washington. With 220 employees and a $6 million annual budget, the agency helps 50,000 people each year with services ranging from Childbirth and Parenting Alone (CAPA), to the Christmas Bureau, which is run in conjunction with The Spokesman-Review.