Christian Assoc. rejects Penn's offer

The rejection means the CA's building on 36th Street is still up for grabs. It's still no go on the Christian Association. University officials made an offer Wednesday to purchase the property at 36th Street and Locust Walk, according to Managing Director of Real Estate Tom Lussenhop. But the offer was rejected in a one-sentence fax yesterday, which Lussenhop described as "a brief reaction in the absolute negative that seemed to leave no room for negotiation." Christian Association Board of Directors Chairperson Eric van Merkensteijn called the University's proposal "embarrassing," although neither he nor University officials would comment on the financial details of the offer. "I would be willing to negotiate with the University, but I consider negotiations to be at a 10 to 15 per cent difference in cost, and we're not even at 15 percent," van Merkensteijn said. But Lussenhop said he was surprised at the Christian Association's rejection of the offer, stressing that it was a "fair and equitable offer in the best interests of both parties." "We've made what we consider to be a fair and reasonable offer that's a win-win situation for both the University and the Christian Association," Lussenhop added. The Rev. Beverly Dale, the CA's executive director, refused to comment on the offer or any future negotiations. She said last week, however, that the time might not be right for University officials to take over the building, "since they have just outsourced their entire real estate department," referring to the recent decision to turn over management of University facilities to Trammell Crow Co. Yet while Dale refused to comment yesterday, van Merkensteijn suggested that ideally, the organization would remain in the building and bring compatible programs into the facility. He noted that the University should "talk about the building both 'programatically' and as a real estate deal, but the University only wants to deal with it as a real estate deal." "There are a series of proposals dealing with an interfaith center and a Unity Center -- those are the types of issues where the University would be a key partner in making these things happen," van Merkensteijn said, stressing that the Christian Association would be willing to sell or lease to the University or any organization that offered a reasonable price. "We are willing to look at this piece of property as a standard real estate deal, but that's not our first choice," he added. Lussenhop said the University would consider the implementation of such proposals if it owned the property. "From what I have read about the Unity Center concept, it sounds like an attractive option for the property, and if the University owned the property, the University would be in a position to make decisions about the development of the property," he said. "But the University does not own the property."

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