Grace Capital Church signs lease for 22,000-sq.-ft. of downtown space

LACONIA — Grace Capital Church has leased 22,000-square feet in the building attached to the municipal parking garage at 523-571 Main Street, which this week it began converting into a house of worship complete with an auditorium, classrooms, teen center and office space.

Since the church opened locally in October 2010, it has held its services at the Laconia Middle School and maintained an office on Canal Street. 'We've had to beg, borrow and steal space," said Pastor Mark Warren, who expects his congregation, which currently numbers about 250, to double by the close of the year. "We will use this space," he declared.

Apart from services on Sundays, Warren said that Bible classes and youth groups, which have been meeting in the homes of parishioners, would meet on weekdays when the administrative offices would be open. The church, he explained also hosts groups for those coping with divorce and classes in household financial management, which will use the classrooms. The lower level, once home to a bar and pool room, will house the teen center.

Warren estimated the cost of renovating and configuring the space at approximately $100,000, noting that church members are volunteering their services for some of the work. Furniture, fixtures and fittings will likely also run to six figures.

Warren Clement, who with Kevin Sullivan of Coldwell Banker Commercial Weeks Associates, shepherded the leasing arrangement, said that the church would be a valuable asset to the downtown. "It will bring people downtown every day and evening of the week," he said, adding that the increase in foot traffic will benefit the retailers and restaurants.

"The Soda Shoppe is very excited," Warren remarked. "We'll slam them on Sundays."

The Grace Capital Church was founded in 1996 by Peter Bonanno and, after meeting in private homes and school rooms, moved to a building in Pembroke in 2005 and soon affiliated with the Foursquare Church headquartered in Los Angeles, which was founded by the celebrated evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson in 1927. The congregation grew rapidly, with about 1,000 worshippers attending two services on Sundays, many of them from the Lakes Region. The Laconia congregation dates from 2010 and Warren said that a church is slated to open in Manchester next year.

The space, which has been vacant for the past six years, is owned by Downtown Crossing LLC, whose principals, Paul and Dan Disangro, were awarded the property in a settlement reached with Steven Borghi of Alton in 2009. The Disangros were partners of Borghi when his plans to open a Work Out World franchise foundered under heavy debt, along with charges of misappropriation of funds and deceptive trade practices.

In August 2011, Andrea Wilson announced plans to open a children's museum in the space, which she subsequently abandoned.