In a contrite letter to parishioners, Archbishop Wilton Gregory told Georgia’s one million Catholics this week he’d move out and sell his Buckhead mansion if governing boards within the church asked him to.
That wouldn’t be much of a problem, several area real estate specialists said Tuesday.
Mary Lou Lanaux, an Atlanta Realtor who specializes in high-end homes, said she’d offer the 6,196 square-foot home on Habersham Road for $3.8 million, well above the $2.2 million that it cost the Archdiocese of Atlanta to build.
“It’s what I call golden,” said Lanaux, who priced the house based on a description of the property; she had not visited it. “You cannot find something new, and of this quality, in this day and age on Habersham.”
Daniel Fries, who’s appraised homes across the metro area for 30 years, said the 1.8 acre parcel alone would fetch a high price.
“It’s worth a million bucks if it’s worth a nickel,” he said. “That’s probably the most prestigious area in Atlanta.”
The money for the home came from Joseph Mitchell, Margaret Mitchell’s nephew, who died in 2011. His will left $15 million to his parish, Christ the King, as well as the archdiocese. The bequest also included his house on a 1.8-acre tract on Habersham Road.
In his column published Monday in the Georgia Bulletin, a Catholic newspaper, Gregory said having to build a new house was a “happy” problem — Christ the King had grown so much that the rectory, housing Rev. Monsignor Frank McNamee and six priests, needed to be torn down to make more room.
The parish decided to buy the Wesley Road home for $1.9 million, with nearly $300,000 in renovations yet to come. Gregory, who needed a new place to live, turned his eyes to Mitchell’s old place. The archdiocese flattened it and built a a new structure in its place.
Gregory’s new house is a stunner, built of brick, with finely detailed cornices and a three-car garage. According to building permits at Atlanta City Hall, it has two dining rooms. The master bedroom leads to a master bath that leads to a private study. Not far from that is a “safe room” — a narrow space guarding occupants from attack, with a steel door and frame, defended by a triple lock system. It has more than 80 lights, including five chandeliers.
Gregory remained in his home Tuesday. He declined an invitation to meet with parishioners from Christ the King who expressed objections to the millions spent on senior clergy in a meeting with him back in January. Gregory also declined media requests.
In his Georgia Bulletin column, Gregory said he “failed” parishioners when he left his old home on Wesley Road and moved the new one on Habersham Road two miles away.
The expense, Gregory acknowledged, struck a nerve, especially since Pope Francis has been urging Catholics to live more frugally.
“I failed to consider the difficult position in which I placed my auxiliary bishops, priests, deacons and staff who have to try to respond to inquiries from the faithful about recent media reports when they might not be sure what to believe themselves,” he wrote.
Gregory asked for prayers and forgiveness.
Meanwhile, some residents near Gregory’s old home on Wesley Road don’t want it renovated to accommodate seven parish priests from Christ the King.
Antonia Mitchell, whose back yard on Wesley Road faces the site where the parish wants to add priest housing, wants Gregory to return.
“It’s a dramatic alteration of the house,” she said. “It amounts to creating a boarding house in the neighborhood.”
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