The Red Star Baptist Church property, a landmark on North Main Street in Cape Girardeau, has been sold to a local property development company.

Landmark Lodging LLC confirmed Monday it has completed acquisition of the main church building, 1301 N. Main St., along with an adjacent activity center and parsonage.

Purchase price of the property was not disclosed. At one time it had been appraised at $1.1 million, but it was in need of extensive repairs and upgrades, so the asking price was in the $650,000 range.

Landmark Lodging is owned by Cape Girardeau real estate investor and business owner Matt Goehman.

A spokesperson for Landmark Lodging told the Southeast Missourian on Monday the property's future has not been determined.

The former Red Star Baptist Church Activity Center, on North Main Street in Cape Girardeau, is shown in this photo taken Monday. The activity center, along with the main church building and adjacent parsonage, was sold recently to Landmark Lodging LLC of Cape Girardeau.JAY WOLZ

"We're considering options," Melinda McLain said. "But we do not have any intention of tearing (the church) down."

Based on the Southeast Missourian's archives, the Red Star Baptist congregation dates back to 1916 when a group of worshipers met under a tree not far from where the original church was built in the 1920s. The present church building, including its education wing, opened in 1955 followed by the 14,400-square-foot activity center in 1973.

Four years ago, the Red Star congregation, merged with the Rock 'N' Roll Church of Cape Girardeau to form The Church of the Rescued and Redeemed. The merged church remained affiliated with the Cape Baptist Association and the Missouri Baptist Convention.

"We are still Red Star ministry," said Billy Garner, pastor of the congregation. "It's just the building that was sold."

Groundbreaking this spring

The Church of the Rescued and Redeemed congregation currently meets in a house at 824 Lexington Ave., adjacent to a nine-acre tract, formerly owned by Prodigy Academy, where the congregation plans to build a 6,000-square-foot worship center later this year.

"Hopefully, we're going to start breaking ground sometime between now and June," Garner said.

Construction, he said, will take place with the help of hundreds of volunteers. "We hope to have the church up, hopefully, by the end of the summer," Garner said. "We have a group coming called Chilton Baptist Builders who will be bringing somewhere around 100 people up here."

Based in Alabama, Chilton Baptist Builders works with congregations on church construction projects throughout the Southern Baptist region.

"All we have to do is have a slab down and the plumbing roughed in," Garner said. "They'll come in and start working Monday morning and they'll be gone by Thursday night or Friday morning."

Meanwhile, the church has an ongoing fundraising campaign to help pay construction costs.

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