First Baptist Church to sell off nine blocks of downtown campus

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — First Baptist Church announced its plan to sell off nine blocks of its ten block downtown campus, citing long-declining attendance and high maintenance costs.

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A page on the church's website explained the reasoning behind the plan to downsize its massive downtown footprint.

"The reason this project is required is because our church is already spending money it does not have. First Baptist can no longer afford the tens of millions of dollars in maintenance that is required to take care of a sprawling campus that we do not need."

The website said the church hasn't made any "concrete plans about any piece of property" it owns, but plans to shrink the size of the campus from more than 1.5 million square feet to 182,000 square feet.

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Cox Media Group