Market Ripe for Churches to Expand

(This story, in slightly different form, originally appeared in Incisive Media’s Daily Business Review.)

MIAMI-Even as businesses and governments downsize and the real estate market swoons, some South Florida churches are growing and acquiring properties. The churches–some with mega-congregations, others with less than a 100 members–are taking advantage of the decline in real estate values to buy land and buildings for expansion.

“When people are in trouble they need God more than when they prosper,” says Mani Maken, president of West Palm Beach-based the Maken Group. “After 9/11 happened, everyone got scared and churches were packed. That slowly faded away, but now people are losing jobs and don’t know where they can go.”