The foreclosure sale of the Greater Cleveland Avenue Christian Church in North Carolina can go forward as planned on Friday, a federal bankruptcy judge announced after denying a church motion yesterday that would have forestalled the sale, the Winston-Salem Journal reported. After a hearing that lasted more than three hours, Judge Catharine Aron came back with a ruling that left members of the congregation in saddened silence as they filed out. Acknowledging the congregation's love for their church, Judge Aron called it unfortunate that the decision members were hoping for "will not occur today." Judge Aron denied the church's motion to modify its reorganization plan in a way that would have allowed the congregation to stay in its building. The church had asked Judge Aron to modify its loan from Apex Bank to give it more time to pay: The church proposed extending the maturity date by three years, to 2022, and paying an interest rate of 6 percent on $3.3 million owed to the bank. With more time, the church argued, it could arrange financing to pay off the Apex loan, which now has a payoff total of about $3.5 million. The church has been paying Apex $13,000 per month as rent during the bankruptcy proceedings. Making interest-only payments on the new plan would have required the church to pay Apex some $25,000 per month.
