JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – An Arlington church is about to bring a breath of fresh air to the Regency Square Mall after closing a major deal.
Impact Church, a nondenominational congregation, won a bid at the mall and will move into the former Belk department store location in July.
The church's pastor said the large space in the center of the mall is a better location for his congregation, and the move could also help the mall's economy.
With 5,000 people in and out of Impact Church each week, it's possible more stores and businesses will follow the church's move.
Bishop George Davis said Impact Church's name is a call for its members to influence others.
“What our goal is, is to not only come to help produce a nice place for us to have church service, but we want to be a part of helping bring some shoppers there and hopefully opening up some more businesses in the mall there,” Davis said.
Davis made the announcement about the move to his congregation Sunday.
WATCH: Bishop announces Impact Church move |
ONLINE: More about Regency Square Mall
He said the church has been working on the deal for four months, and the owners of Regency Square Mall welcomed the design plan for the mall's central department store location with open arms, specifically because of the church's inclusion plan.
“We are literally designing our lobby area so that shoppers who are coming from the east side of the mall to the west side of the mall will just mosey through our lobby area to get through the other side,” Davis said. “We are planning to put (in) one or two restaurants.”
In the 200,000-square-foot property, the church will build a 4,000-seat auditorium, an indoor community and athletic space, a bookstore and cafe, and an entertainment venue.
Impact beat out its sister church, Celebration, with the bid. Davis said he is ready for the challenge of continuing to revitalize Arlington.
“There are a lot of mall store owners there that are working hard,” Davis said. “(They) get up every day, open up their stores and are hoping and praying the business picks up, and we just want to be a part of dropping 5,000 shoppers off there every week.”
Impact Church's original location will completely transform into a private Christian school for grades K-3 through 10th.
The church is working on the design and passing inspections. Once those are done, the church will close in July and reopen at the mall.