CRESTVIEW — Niceville United Methodist Church leaders have opted not to move into Northview Plaza.
Niceville UMC — which has a Crestview campus, St. Mark UMC on P.J. Adams Parkway — seeks to expand its ministry in the Hub City. But Jayme Nabors of NBI properties, which manages the North Ferdon boulevard plaza, said church officials decided not to lease 16,500 square feet in the plaza's south end.
“It couldn’t satisfy their needs with what they were looking for,” Nabors said.
Greg McKinnon, an executive pastor at Niceville UMC, said the decision to keep looking for a new location came after a church engineer noticed additional remodeling work would be necessary.
“It would have cost more than we planned,” McKinnon said.
Now, church officials are considering leasing 11 acres on Old Bethel Road. McKinnon said the church should reach a decision by the middle of next month.
NBI and the church parted on good terms, Nabors said. NBI will soon renovate the plaza's south wing — which includes the former Movies & More — into retail space.
Naybors estimated that the renovation, set to begin within the next 45 days, would give the plaza five additional retail spaces.
St. Mark recently finished a $1.25 million expansion project — adding more children’s ministry classrooms, additional parking, a children’s playground, and a larger sanctuary with additional seating — to the current building.
The campus regularly has 600 in attendance on Sundays, church officials said.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Niceville UMC opts out of Crestview's Northview Plaza