Berlin property sold for $1.5M to Sonrise Church
Wesley Cox, senior advisor with the Hanna Team at SVN | Miller Commercial Real Estate announced the sale of the former Merial Select facility in Berlin.
The 68,115-square-foot facility is located on 22.19 acres on Route 50 and was sold to Sonrise Church for $1.5 million.
David Dypsky of Newport Bay Realty represented Sonrise Church.
The facility was previously used for the research and production of poultry vaccinations since the site was developed in 1960, but it was determined due to functional obsolescence that the site was no longer a good fit for that use.
Cox and the buyer’s agent Dypsky overcame a number of challenges over the course of the 15 month negotiation and contract period, including working through complex contract language between a France-based Fortune 100 company and a local church, getting the property rezoned and zoning text amendment allowing for a church use in the B-2 commercial zone, as well as securing financing for the buyer.
“This has been the most rewarding sale of my career,” Cox said. “I had the pleasure to work with not only the highly professional corporate executives at Merial Select, but also the amazing leaders at Sonrise. I couldn’t be happier to help Sonrise Church find a permanent home to continue serving the community.”
A Merial representative said, “There were many hurdles and contingencies along the way, but working together with the good folks at Sonrise, we were able to overcome them. When we were first approached about the church’s interest in the property it did not appear to be a very likely fit. However, our broker Wesley Cox from SVN-Miller and Sonrise’s broker David Dypsky were effective in keeping both parties engaged and on task as we worked through the process.”
Sonrise Church has been holding their services at Stephen Decatur High School for the last 10 years and has seen their membership grow to almost 1,000 parishioners. They hope to start renovations on their new property soon.