Main Street Church Pastor Says Shop Owner Misinformed

Rev. Richard Cullen was hoping he had another week to prepare before spreading the good news about the Main Street United Methodist Church's capital campaign, and its future plans to extend its community outreach on Main Street to those in need.

Instead, the "negative" aspect of the church's decision – to end its leases with five tenants and raze the stretch of brick storefronts currently housing five downtown businesses – is taking center stage, Cullen said.

"Some of what you wrote isn't true. This hasn't been in the works for five years," Cullen said, countering a statement made Monday to Nashua Patch by Carol Montminy, regarding a rumor she'd heard about how long the church's plan had been in the works. 

Montminy, along with four other businesses, received notice in mid-October that the their current leases will not be renewed when they expire in December of 2014. 

Montminy said she will likely be closing her doors Dec. 24.

Cullen said after much deliberation and prayer over a six-month period, the church decided to move boldly into the future, to maintain its outreach and increase accessibility and visibility.

"We made a decision in April to continue as a downtown church, as opposed to moving away from the downtown – as the church had been considering for several years. At that same time, we made the decision to renovate as opposed to moving," said Cullen. 

According to a brochure outlining the project, the church, which has been a part of Nashua's downtown for 145 years, needs upgrades – many areas within the church are not easily accessible; carrying bags of donated food up and down the stairs presents an ongoing challenge in the distribution of 50-plus bags of food per week; poor ventilation in the basement in the church has contributed to poor air quality.

According to printed material on the church's website, the main thrust of the fund-raising campaign will go toward creating a new "grand entry" connecting the main church building to the educational building, known as the Wesley Building, allowing for elevator access and restrooms on all levels of the church.

As detailed in an Oct. 20 church newsletter also posted on the church site, "removal of the storefronts in front of the Wesley Building will enable us to showcase our presence, provide highly valued downtown green space, and provide handicap accessibility from the front of the Main Street entrance."

Cullen said he had hoped first to share the results of the fund-raising campaign with its congregation on Nov. 24 before going public. 

He also said that "eviction" is not the right word.

"The truth is we have leases with all of the tenants that run through December of 2014. So when we told them in October about our plans, it gives them 15 months in which to look for other sites and make decisions. We're not evicting them, not at all, and surely we're not evicting them yesterday," Cullen said.

Suzanne Reynolds, owner of Chuck's Barber Shop, said it feels like an eviction, and that she isn't sure what she is going to do, moving forward, but she's looking for more reliable information from the church and the city, with all the rumors swirling.

"I feel we're getting pushed off Main Street – there are so many rumors going around right now. The whole thing is devastating," Reynolds said. 

She said the barber shop has been moved before, and that she felt secure as a tenant of the church.

"The minute I got the papers from the church I jumped on it, to try and find us a new place," Reynolds said.  

She has so far not found an ideal new downtown location she can afford.

"The former owner of the barber shop said 'you'll never be rich,  but you'll be able to pay the bills,' and he wasn't kidding. I've been trying to cut back on things, but I also like to keep the customers happy, with cable TV and coffee," Reynolds said.

She said the church, in the notice they sent, provided information on contacting the city.

"They said I have until Dec. 31 of 2014 to move, but suggested we move as quickly as possible," Reynolds said.

She said she'd like to work with the church toward a month-to-month lease so that she can relocate as soon as she finds a good fit.

Mayor Donnalee Lozeau said in a prepared statement Monday: “These businesses are an important part of our Downtown Nashua community.  Although the current landscape is changing, the city will be supportive in their relocating efforts in the months ahead and is optimistic of their future opportunities and success.”

Cullen said the church is willing to work with the tenants as needed. He also said that the decision to end the lease agreements was a painstaking one for the church. 

"It's not without a great deal of pain on our part, knowing that we are inconveniencing these five – even more than inconveniencing  – these tenants. We know there's pain involved, and we're concerned. We're also working with them to make sure if they come up with alternatives, we won't hold that against them. We are doing our part to make it as painless as possible."

Cullen said the reason the church hadn't gone public with the plan before now was because they wanted to be sure they could raise the kind of money needed – about $2 million – to make the renovations and upgrades.

"It involves a lot of money before it moves forward, and we'd look pretty foolish saying what our plans were, without any sense of confidence we were capable of doing it," Cullen said Monday.

"Our concern all along was that someone would choose to emphasize the negative rather than the positive, as your story has done, rather than the fact that that church will be in a position to be a partner in the community," Cullen said.

After the story was initially reported here on Nashua Patch, the city's Director of Economic Development, Tom Galligani, stopped by Jackie's Diner to make sure owner Carol Montminy knew that the city was interested in helping relocate the diner.

"I want to keep my options open, but that was great news," Montminy said. "I feel a lot better after hearing from the city."

In a prepared statement released Monday, Galligani said: “We have been in touch with all of the impacted businesses and have offered assistance, advice and encouragement.  We will continue to work with them and are hopeful they will find a new home in Downtown Nashua quickly. Revolving Loan Funds, the Nashua Microloan Fund and the Façade Improvement Program were designed to soften the unexpected  impacts small businesses in our community face and we anticipate they will be taken advantage of in this occasion.”

Comments made on the original story posted here on Nashua Patch reflect questions from outside the church community, as to the impact of eliminating five businesses from a struggling downtown.

Tom Lopez wrote: "I have difficulty reconciling this move with being the heart of Nashua. Right now, Downtown is struggling very hard. A lot of businesses are shutting down, and that strip has been one of the cornerstones, starting this process now, and not working with your tenants more strikes me as heartless. That being said, I hope the business community and the city step forward to acknowledge what is happening downtown, we have small business owners who genuinely love being part of downtown, Jackie's has a considerable amount of history behind it. I hope people reach out, we already lost Cooking Matters, this is a negative situation that could become very positive if the right people step forward."

Jeremy St. Hilaire wrote: "While I agree with the other posters that this is not a good situation, they are not being kicked out right before the holidays. That's a choice that the Diner owners are making on their own. Per the article they were allowed to stay until 2014 (i assume until their lease is up but i do not know that) but she "didn't want to give them a penny more". I understand the frustration but if the business was doing well there theoretically should be no reason to leave prior to the lease ending. I imagine that by her quote she is being allowed to leave without paying through the end of her lease which if that's the case sounds pretty charitable to me. In any case, there are always details to these situations that are not known to the public and probably aren't any of our business anyways. I hope all of the businesses land on their feet somewhere else downtown as there are plenty of vacancies and down town could use all of the help it can get!"

We'll continue to follow this story, and bring you more updates as we hear back from those involved.

Link here to read more about the Main Street Methodist Church project.
Link here to read previous story: Main Street Church Launches $2M Capital Campaign, Evicts 5 Stores