The Decatur law firm Williams Teusink recently closed on two historic structures previously owned by Decatur First United Methodist Church including the 121-year-old chapel that’s possibly the city’s oldest public (non-residential) structure, or at least close to it.
According to firm co-founder Kyle Williams, total cost for the chapel, along with the three-story former home to Decatur First Preschool next door and for a small playground fronting the chapel, is $3.2 million. He estimates additional costs for new construction and renovation--mostly on the old preschool--at $2 million, with hopes Williams Teusink will occupy that building by first quarter, 2022.
For the last six years Williams Teusink, currently with seven attorneys and four staffers, has operated out of the High House across the street. Williams said the firm will occupy about half of the old preschool while the remainder of the 15,500 square-foot space gets leased to small-office businesses.
Williams Teusink will continue owning the circa-1929 High House, and after “minor renovations,” Williams said, will lease spaces in that structure as well.
The firm has yet to secure additional tenants for either site, Williams said.
“I think that eventually we’ll go back to working in offices,” Williams said. “I think you’ll see employers with more flexibility, allowing their staff to work a few days at home, a few days in the office. But I also think that after nearly a year of working at home, a lot of folks will be ready to return more or less full time to their offices.”
Although Williams Teusink now owns the 7200 square-foot chapel, First United Methodist will retain use on a parti-time bases for, among others, Sunday mornings, religious holidays, weddings and funeral services. Its secular uses will include law firm receptions and parties along with educational forums and other community gatherings.
Made of granite quarried in Stone Mountain, the chapel was completed in 1899 on the site of the original wooden church erected in 1823-26. It remained First Methodist’s primary chapel until January, 1967, when the present sanctuary opened.
Meantime Decatur First, the city’s oldest preschool dating to the mid-1950s, has merged with the church’s Children’s Morning Out program while moving to the main campus, the East Ponce De Leon Avenue side of the property.
The preschool’s old playground eventually gets turned into an 18-space parking lot, though it still has to go through permitting.
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