Q&Amy: Burned church set for redemption

Q: Will anything ever be done with the burned out church at Gridley and Morris streets?

Amy in short: There are early plans in the works, but the final decision is still up in the air.

A bit more: The church, built as First Assembly of God and later used by other congregations, fell victim to two fires in the last several years, leaving it little more than a boarded up, charred heap.

A county group is working to revamp the dilapidated corner with something altogether different, and some Sans Souci area residents are eager for the renewal.

First Assembly of God was founded in 1925, according to a history of the church, at a time when the Sans Souci area was a bustling and desirable suburb of Greenville.

Once the sprawling estate of Benjamin Franklin Perry, postbellum governor of South Carolina, Sans Souci had undergone significant development in the early 20th century. Middle-class residents were eager to fill the newly developed residences.

The Assembly of God congregation met first in a garage building, then a storefront and later an old pool hall before constructing a small chapel at the intersection of Gridley Street and what was then known as Park Street.

County property records show the land was purchased by the church in 1929. The main sanctuary was built in 1942, and the three-story annex on the rear of the building was added in 1952.

A property across Morris Street was purchased in 1965, and a gym was built there.

The 90-year-old church, now known as Greenville First Assembly, sold the buildings in 1985 and moved into its new home on Haywood Road the following year.

The old church was purchased by its current owner, Harvester's Outreach Ministries, in 1998.

Harvester's Outreach, the work of husband-and-wife bishops Paula and Stephen Sizemore, operated in the church for a few years before the first fire around 2001.

The building was not repaired, and services continued in the gym across the street, Paula Sizemore said.

Another fire roared through the vacant sanctuary in May 2014.

"They said it was an accident, but there was no power on in that building for over eight years," Sizemore said.

The Sizemores left Greenville in early 2007 to continue their work of establishing ministries in other states, including Virginia, Alabama and Texas.

The gym continued to host ministries under the leadership of other pastors for several years but was the target of vandalism, theft and vagrancy.

"It became a problem," Sizemore said.

Now, the Greenville County Redevelopment Authority has its eyes on the property with hopes of acquiring it and redeveloping the site into something that will benefit the neighborhood.

"Our primary goal is to work in low-income neighborhoods and try to revitalize them through housing and infrastructure improvements," said Doug Dent, GCRA general counsel.

"The building itself's going to have to be demolished because of the fire," Dent said. "Then we'll have to make an assessment as to whether the most effective use of the property would be for housing or whether it would be for some commercial venture that could provide job opportunities for the folks who live in that area."

A local association, the Sans Souci Neighborhood Alliance, is actively working with GCRA to determine the best future for the site, said Kimberly Mahaffey, alliance president.

"We have agreed that before anything is built on the site, conversations with neighbors about what we would collectively like to see developed in the area are a must," she said. "We are teaming with the Greenville County planning department to write a master plan for Sans Souci beginning in 2016."

Sizemore said she hoped the new owner of the property will help bring new life to the community she once ministered to.

"While we were there at that time, we were trying to help the community," she said. "It's an area that needs to be fixed up."

Got a question? Send it to Q&Amy by emailing me at aburns@greenvillenews.com or calling 864-298-3822. You can find me on Twitter at @QandAmyNews.