According to the Boston Herald,
"Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is offering to help Roxbury’s historic Charles Street AME Church avoid foreclosure — and blasting the bank that’s trying to seize the house of worship.
Menino yesterday called the Rev. Gregory Groover Sr. — pastor of the church and chairman of the Boston School Committee — to offer help in the congregation’s fight with Hub-based OneUnited Bank.
The nation’s largest black-owned bank, OneUnited is threatening to foreclose on the church even though the company itself received $12 million in federal bailout funds in 2008.
OneUnited has scheduled a March 22 foreclosure auction of the church, some nearby storefronts and a Milton parcel that once served as the congregation’s parsonage.
Charles Street AME’s $1.1 million balloon mortgage recently came due, and the church says OneUnited hasn’t responded to an offer to keep making monthly payments while the congregation tries to refinance.
The two sides have long been locked in a bitter lawsuit over a separate $3.6 million construction loan that the church took out in 2006 to build an adjacent community center.
Construction stalled after OneUnited halted payment on the last $800,000 and sued to get funds it had already disbursed back.
Menino said he told Groover the city will do anything it can to help the 193-year-old congregation.
Once a hub of the anti-slavery movement, Charles Street AME offers key social and spiritual programs these days to its 1,000 parishioners and the wider Roxbury community."
OneUnited Bank
Customer Support
3683 Crenshaw Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90016
Phone: (323) 290-4848
Fax: (323) 389-0548
Web Site: https://www.oneunited.com/
Mayor of Boston
Thomas M. Menino
1 City Hall Square, Suite 500
Boston, MA 02201-2013
mayor@cityofboston.gov
Telephone: 617.635.4500
"Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is offering to help Roxbury’s historic Charles Street AME Church avoid foreclosure — and blasting the bank that’s trying to seize the house of worship.
Menino yesterday called the Rev. Gregory Groover Sr. — pastor of the church and chairman of the Boston School Committee — to offer help in the congregation’s fight with Hub-based OneUnited Bank.
The nation’s largest black-owned bank, OneUnited is threatening to foreclose on the church even though the company itself received $12 million in federal bailout funds in 2008.
OneUnited has scheduled a March 22 foreclosure auction of the church, some nearby storefronts and a Milton parcel that once served as the congregation’s parsonage.
Charles Street AME’s $1.1 million balloon mortgage recently came due, and the church says OneUnited hasn’t responded to an offer to keep making monthly payments while the congregation tries to refinance.
The two sides have long been locked in a bitter lawsuit over a separate $3.6 million construction loan that the church took out in 2006 to build an adjacent community center.
Construction stalled after OneUnited halted payment on the last $800,000 and sued to get funds it had already disbursed back.
Menino said he told Groover the city will do anything it can to help the 193-year-old congregation.
Once a hub of the anti-slavery movement, Charles Street AME offers key social and spiritual programs these days to its 1,000 parishioners and the wider Roxbury community."
OneUnited Bank
Customer Support
3683 Crenshaw Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90016
Phone: (323) 290-4848
Fax: (323) 389-0548
Web Site: https://www.oneunited.com/
Mayor of Boston
Thomas M. Menino
1 City Hall Square, Suite 500
Boston, MA 02201-2013
mayor@cityofboston.gov
Telephone: 617.635.4500