The story on North Coast Church’s acquisition of Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church’s property in the May 8 edition of the Ramona Sentinel is incomplete, and, at times, inaccurate.
While we appreciate public interest in this story, we were surprised that no one from our leadership team was ed for comment prior to publication. The following information is offered for clarity.
Our congregation invested more than $3.5 million over 15 years in developing that site and remained deeply committed to building. However, repeated regulatory barriers and an unexpected reversal by North Coast Church near the close of escrow led to significant hardship for our faith community.
In the story, Jamie Looney of Unite Pacific and a consultant for North Coast Church on the project, said the project was “broken for a long time,” which is simply not the case.
Spirit of Joy faced a long series of costly and time-consuming requirements from the County of San Diego before any building could begin, including an archaeological study (no findings, but expensive), rejected wastewater system (ultimately approved by the state), grading, nine bioswales, irrigation, planting 50+ trees, full parking lot and lighting installation. Also, the church spent over $300,000 for a water hookup, plus required fire hydrants, then an additional hydrant was unexpectedly added by the Ramona Municipal Water District.
In early 2021 due to financial hardship Spirit of Joy made the hard decision to list the property for sale. In April of 2021, the church received a letter of intent from North Coast Church and after six months of negotiations an agreement was signed by North Coast in October 2021 for the full asking price of $3.5 million.
Over the following year both parties worked through planning, continued negotiations and several extensions while the property remained off the market and under agreement until the end of the due diligence period in July 2022. Approximately two weeks before the end of due diligence, North Coast Church reaffirmed they had the cash and were ready. Then, just a few days before the end of due diligence, they withdrew citing the cost of development.
Following the church’s withdrawal, Thrivent Financial (which held the loan on the property) took over marketing and eventually reduced the listing price to $1.5 million. Thrivent re-listed the property in June of 2023. That same month North Coast Church placed an offer and signed a new purchase agreement in August of 2023 for less than half the original agreed-upon price. Escrow closed in August of 2024.
This makes the claim by Looney in the article that “the buyer and seller could not reach agreement, and they parted ways amicably” untrue and misleading. We had a letter of intent and a signed agreement, and their last-minute withdrawal left Spirit of Joy unable to pursue other offers between April 2021 and July of 2022.
While we understand construction plans evolve and financial decisions are complex, North Coast Church’s decision to reenter and purchase the property 10 months later at a lesser cost was understandably disheartening to our congregation. After investing so much time, effort and financial resources in the project we had hoped to recoup some of what had been invested financially in the project.
Our decision to sell the property was not one of defeat but of faithful stewardship after exhausting all options. It is our hope that by sharing this context, a fuller and more accurate understanding can be restored.
We continue to pray this land will serve as a blessing to the Ramona community, and we remain hopeful that all our churches — despite challenges and missteps — can work together with honesty, humility and grace.
The Rev. Lawrence L. Hand is interim pastor of the Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church
