Church sells 63 acres of property

OCALA — About 18 months ago, St. John Lutheran church and school bought 63 acres near Interstate 75 with the plan of expanding its facilities one day. But the religious group has sold the land, deciding instead to upgrade its existing home.

St. John officials sold the land last month to ENOC Industrial LLC, a company owned by Douglas Cone, of Cone Distributing, for $4.6 million. The school plans to use the money to pay off the loan for the property — St. John paid just over $3.5 million for the land in March 2007 — and upgrade its school and church buildings at 1915 S.E. Lake Weir Ave.

“We had purchased the land to hopefully build a campus there,” said Dianne Wakeland, the school’s business manager. “Apparently, that wasn’t God’s plan.

“But we’re going to use the money to renovate what we have.”

That means new roofs for the church and school, new flooring, windows and lockers and a revamped parking lot, said Marty Gray, the head of St. John’s Christian Education Committee.

“We were blessed,” Gray said. “The school is moving in a positive direction, and we’re already getting good feedback on the new changes.”

Gray said there was never a firm plan to move St. John’s schools kindergarten, elementary, middle or high school at its Lake Weir Avenue location to the parcel of land just west of Interstate 75 and south of U.S. 27.

The real plan for the property, Gray said, was to build a complete sports complex for the school’s teams.

Currently St. John has its own gymnasium but plays outdoor sports at a few nearby city-owned parks. Gray said school officials hope to move all of its outdoor sports to neighboring Brick City Park, where it hosts football games.

“We’re looking at solving that problem in other ways,” Gray said, “and Brick City would be a great fit.”

ENOC Industrial, LLC, purchased the 63 acres in two separate parcels. The company lists Douglas Cone as its trustee and the Cone Distributing location, 500 N.W. 27th Ave., as its principal office.

Cone did not return calls to the Star-Banner to comment on his plans for the land.

Joe VanHoose may be reached at joe.vanhoose@starbanner.com or at 867-4124.