Mars church property sold, will become church again
A former church building on Pittsburgh Street in Mars may soon be home to religious services again.
The Mars borough council agreed during its monthly meeting Monday night, Aug. 5, to sign documents to sell the former church building at 524 Pittsburgh St. to Wexford-based New Horizons Church for $406,000.
The borough spent five years considering uses for the property before deciding to sell it earlier this year. It started accepting bids for the property in June.
New Horizons is an affiliate of the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Darlington, S.C., and the two parties have worked together to win the bid.
Borough treasurer Amy Brown said the deadline to close the deal is Aug. 17.
“It’s going to be a church,” Brown said. “I know they want to get started as soon as possible.”
Mayor Gregg Hartung said the group is looking for a permanent facility in the area and wants to move out of leased space at Camelot Events Center in Wexford.
“They’re looking for a church location rather than holding them out of an office space,” Hartung said. “They’re transferring what they have now to this location in Mars.”
If New Horizons’ plans come to fruition, it would mean church services would be held in the building for the first time in six years.
The borough has owned the church since 2019, when it purchased the property from the Dutilh United Methodist Church for $325,000, along with the church’s two parking lots and education center. Dutilh previously used it as an auxiliary campus to its main one in Cranberry Township.
While the main church in Cranberry Township is still holding services, the one in Mars stopped in April 2018.
Once the sale is closed, the new owners will be responsible for making necessary repairs to the century-old building, which has sustained water damage to the interior.
However, according to Brown, the borough has already taken care of other needed repairs, such as the bell tower.
The borough also purchased two adjacent parking lots when it acquired the church property in 2019. New Horizons will not acquire those, but it will use them under an agreement with the borough.
