Lakewood Sells Old Digs

HoustonChronicle.com - Lakewood Church selling former worship site

I can't count this as a total surprise, but the numbers are bound to set off a few among the chattering class. Notably, the old site's pricetag of $15 mill compared to the lease price that Lakewood paid to get the current facility: $11.8 million for a 30-year lease.

Of course, there's $25 mill in alterations within 10 years that are a requirement of the lease and also $39 mill in improvements over the first 30 years in order to qualify for the second 30-year lease which clocks in at $22.6 mill. All in all, that's over $95 mill. No small change, that. All that via a Church Executive interview with Lakewood Administrator Kevin Comes

I'm guessing the bulk of that $15 mill sale will go towards a big loan payment that's due by Lakewood in January 2007.