Three-Story Home Listed Free of Charge, but You Have To Move It First
A house in Montclair, New Jersey, is being offered up for free — but in order to get it, someone has to pay to have it moved off of the property.
Redeemer Montclair Church placed an ad in the Nov. 7 edition of Montclair Local that reads: “Free house! You pay to move it, otherwise it will be demolished.”
According to senior pastor Rev. Daniel Ying, the church has been using the building as office space and for its children’s ministry. However, Redeemer Montclair plans to construct a brand-new extension to the church on the property where the house is located.
The 3,330-square-foot home, which currently stands on 23 N. Willow Street, is three stories tall with six bedrooms and two-and-a-half-bathrooms.
According to tax records, it was built in 1910, Montclair Local reported.
The Montclair Historic Preservation Commission looked over the plans for the new extension and suggested that Redeemer Montclair try to sell the home to someone who would relocate it rather than simply leveling the building.
“The historical commission requested that we try and find someone who was willing to take it,” Ying said.
“Save it and move it,” Kathleen Bennett, chairwoman of the commission, told NJ.com. “Then it would be saved and loved by another generation.”
Bennett told Montclair Local the commission didn’t find anything special about the house, and that it was similar to two other houses on the block.
However, the commission does think the house was originally designed for two families.
According to Realtor.com, it could cost as little as $15,000 or as much as $200,000 to move a house.
Because the house is so tall, Ying said the neighboring power lines would have to be temporarily moved as well.
The church needs to know if anyone is interested in taking the house in the next several weeks, though Redeemer Montclair does not plan to level the house until January.
According to Ying, there have been a few inquiries, and one person even came to the house to look.
But no one has seriously considered taking on the project so far.
The new two-story extension to the church will feature administrative offices, classrooms, meeting rooms and a full basement, Montclair Local reported, citing the application filed with the zoning board.
Some neighbors protested the large size of the planned addition, but the church’s attorney, Alan Trembulak, said the addition is not actually an expansion.
It will be a more functional and roomy facility to “do exactly what they’re doing now in the house,” he said.
The church will also be constructing a new parking lot for the addition to keep up with local codes regarding the number of spaces required per seat in the church.
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