“The little church with a big heart” is for sale.
Elmwood Community Church, a congregational church affiliated with the United Church of Christ, has listed its building on Newington Road in West Hartford for sale.
The property, including a 13,060-square-foot building and 0.86 acres, is located behind CVS on New Britain Avenue and has been listed by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties for $1.1 million.
According to town land records, which lists the address as 24 Newington Road, the building was appraised in 2023 at $1.6 million and the land at $516,100, for a combined value of $2.1 million. The owner is listed as Elmwood Community Church Inc.
Susan Wiley, who is the church’s controller and also a Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway, said via a text message that no one from the church was available to “give a statement this morning.” She did not say when a statement might be released.
A spokesperson for the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kristen Gorski, West Hartford’s economic development coordinator, said town staff spoke with the real estate agent before the church was listed for sale, and was told that Elmwood Community Church had made the decision to sell because it has had “lower numbers of parishioners for years.” The church plans to remain open through the end of June, she added.
There is nothing on the church’s website, which lists the church’s address as 26 Newington Road, that indicates the building and property are for sale. The website tags the church as, “The little church with a big heart,” with the word “heart” replaced by a red heart emoji. The website adds that the church is “open and affirming.”
Lyle Rotondo, the listing agent for Berkshire Hathaway, said the church reached out to his agency to sell the property, and that the listing has been posted “for about 10 days.”
“We did an analysis on the property and came up with the price,” Rotondo said. “The building was built in 1926, so it’s getting to almost the 100-year mark. It’s a beautiful piece of property that adds great character to the West Hartford community.”
The listing describes the property as ideal “for a myriad of uses, including another church, school, daycare, or even a veterinary clinic.”
The property features a spacious church area, offices, kitchen, reception space and 18 parking spaces, according to the listing.
The “reception space” cited in the listing is Conte Hall, a basement event site that is available to rent. According to the church website, the hall has a capacity of 110 people, and includes both a stage and a kitchen “for food warming.”
The church property is zoned R-6, which limits properties to single-family housing.
Gorski said because that area of Newington Road is zoned for single-family residential, the types of uses that can be considered for the property without a zone change are limited. She noted that it is the first property back from New Britain Avenue, and the first on Newington Road with an entrance and exit driveway.
“It would have a limited potential to rezone commercial,” she said. “I don’t think that would be something that would be a possibility.”
A proposal to create multi-family housing on that property would also require rezoning, Gorski said.
One other issue is that any change in use from a church that holds services once a week on Sunday mornings to something that might significantly increase traffic daily would require a traffic study, especially since the church’s existing driveway is relatively close to the traffic light at the intersection of Newington Road and New Britain Avenue. Gorski said any such proposal would likely require a traffic study.
“The really good thing is, Elmwood is also very walkable,” Gorski said. “So, hopefully, not everybody is fully reliant on vehicles.” She added that a CTfastrak stop is located just a half mile from the church, at the corner of New Park and New Britain avenues.
Whatever eventually succeeds the church on the property, Gorski said the town hopes the new developers will consider preserving as much of the building as possible.
“It’s a type of building people don’t build anymore,” she said.
