SPRINGFIELD – In a move that surprised city officials, Mount Zion Baptist Church has apparently completed negotiations to purchase the Dunbar Community Center from SA Acquisition Property XX, LLC, the company that holds the mortgage to the property.

The announcement of the impending purchase was made by Governor’s Councilor and sheriff’s candidate in a video he posted to his Facebook page on July 27.

The announcement also came as a surprise to Ellen Freyman, the chair of the board of the Dunbar Community Center. She told Reminder Publications the board has been working with an attorney to try to resolve the issue.

“We didn’t know there was another interested party,” she said.

Mayor Domenic Sarno announced earlier this year the city would seek a way to help the center. On July 14, the city released a letter of intent written to the Dunbar board that offered them $500,000 for the building.

The arrangement would be the board would then use the $500,000 to negotiate a settlement with the mortgage company.

Sarno said in a written statement, “Step one, basically we, the city, are offering to deal directly with Dunbar Community Center, Inc. to buy the property for $500,000 and let them deal with clearing up the mortgage aspects. If accepted, this would allow my city team to move towards step two in stabilizing, enhancing and protecting the legacy of the Dunbar Community Center and the important services it provides to our youths, families and seniors. I deeply appreciate all the due diligence that has been put forth by all, especially my city team.”

The city’s offer had a time limit of 10 days for the board to accept it.

Freyman said the mortgage holder had put a value of $875,000 on the loan and the board had been trying to work with them “for a long time.”

The $500,000 was sufficient Freyman said to release the property from the mortgage.

“Another offer exceeded it,” she said.

The church bought the note from the SA Acquisition Property XX, LLC, Freyman said, which was a different arrangement that what the city was proposing for Dunbar.

When asked for a reaction to the announcement, Sarno’s office sent Reminder Publications the following statement: “Mayor Domenic J. Sarno indicates we've made a solid and documented offer. No further comment.”

Freyman said the board is “now ready to step aside.” She added the organization is still in process of working with the church to make the transition take place.

“We will do everything we can to make this happen,” she said. She added, “It sounds like we have the same goals as the church.”

She praised the YMCA of Greater Springfield for its efforts in providing programming at the center. She believes there will be no interruption in the programming during the transition.

While the board will step away from the community center, Freyman said a separate organization, Forever Dunbar, Inc. would continue to raise money to support programming at the center.

On July 29, Albano conducted a press conference that was broadcast live through his Facebook page. He explained he had been approached by church officials in March after he had attended a meeting at former state representative Ray Jordan’s house.

Several weeks later, at no compensation, Albano began working on behalf of the church to negotiate a deal.

“The clear message from the community is they wanted it to remain in the community,” he said.

On July 18 a resolution was reached. Albano said he “was not at liberty to reveal the final price.”

He added, “This is a wonderful opportunity for Mt. Zion.”

He criticized the city for not addressing the fiscal crisis at Dunbar previous to this year and the fact they gave the Dunbar board only 10 days to consider its offer.

“They [the city] clearly failed at it,” he asserted.

Albano called his role in the sale “one of the highlights in my public service career.”

He suggested the city donate the $500,000 it offered to buy the center to Dunbar to support its efforts.

Numerous efforts were made to contact Rev. Atu White of the Mount Zion Baptist Church before press time. No calls were returned.