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MIAMI - March 16, 2010. A judge has ruled that the City can now move forward and demolish the building which once housed a church.
Reverend Amos Allen made his prediction on when the historic Overtown building which use to house his church will be demolished. “I kind of had an idea this was going to come, so you know, it doesn’t stop me,” said Reverend Allen. The Apostolic Revival Temple was a part of Historic Overtown, a key reason why preservationists did not want to see it torn down.
On Friday, attorneys representing the property asked the judge for more time to prevent the demolition and on Monday the judge told them no. “It’s very sad because we’re looking for a little bit of time. Give us three months, six months to properly evaluate the situation,” Brad Knoefler of Omni-Park West Redevelopment said.
According to the City of Miami, the property is a health hazard. Inspectors in both the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County have deemed the structure unsafe. The roof is caving in, and officials will not venture into the structure without gas masks.
“The owner said that he’s applied numerous times over the years for grants and they’ve said no. They’ve always said that we have money to spend on Third Avenue, but we don’t want to spend it back here,” said Knoefler. “We’ve got dozens of other examples of people that have been refused grants to revitalize their property. What we’re trying to say is that you need to draw a line in the sand. We need to redevelop the neighborhood.”
Reverend Allen’s congregation have moved on to another location
What is so sad is that this One God Apostolic church was forced out because they did not have the money to fix the building. The city had the money to restore such a part of their history, but because they were Apostolic, the city probably would not budge. At least my opinion of this…