Crescent Heights Methodist Church Is Sold for $4.5 Million

The Crescent Heights United Methodist Church building, which was closed in 2011, has been sold for $4.5 million.

The sale, currently in escrow, was announced by Malcolm Bennett, CEO of International Realty and Investments. Bennett’s firm has managed the building and the pastor’s house adjacent to it since the United Methodist Church closed the church. The purchaser, who has not been identified, was represented by Jack and Steven Ravan of South Park Group Commercial Real Estate.

The decision by the UMC’s California-Pacific Conference to close the church was acrimonious. The church’s pastor, Scott Imler, refused at first to leave the property. Imler accused Methodist leaders of closing the church because he advocated for legalizing marijuana and because it had a largely gay congregation. But United Methodist leaders noted that the church only had 39 active congregants, not enough to sustain it. Imler was evicted from the property in 2013.

“They were not attracting people, they were not retaining people, not paying bills and the building was falling down around them,” church official Cedrick Bridgeforth said at the time. ”It was not a sustainable congregation.”

The West Hollywood church was founded in 1914 and the building is located on the southeast corner of Fairfax and Fountain avenues. It became known for its support of the LGBT community, serving as the initial home for groups such as Project Angel Food, which provides meals for AIDS patients, and the EAGLES Program, the LA Unified School District’s alternative LGBT high school, and for hosting various addiction recovery support groups. It was the last remaining Protestant church in West Hollywood.

After the closing People Assisting the Homeless (PATH) discussed with the United Methodist Church the possibility of turning it into low-income housing. Jeremy Sidell, then the chief development and communications officer for PATH, said at the time that “any plans will include preservation of the historic elements of the building and its unique character.”

While managing the property, Bennett allowed various non-profit groups, including addiction recovery groups, to continue using it. Bennett said he didn’t know who the actual purchaser of the property was, but he said that his meeting with South Park Group led him to believe that “the community will benefit immensely from new life poured into the landmark site.”

South Park Group did not return calls from WEHOville about the purchase.