Orlando – The GLBT Center of Central Florida has sold the property next door to the organization’s headquarters in the Mills 50 district.
The property is currently occupied by Forbidden City, a Chinese restaurant.
Timothy Vargas, President of the Board of Directors, said the sale helped The Center substantially pay down their mortgage debt and is the result of months of focusing on bringing financial stability to the organization.
“Over the past 15 months, we have managed the finances with laser-like focus, and as a result, we have paid off over $310,000 in debt,” Vargas stated in a media release. “What this means financially for The Center cannot be overstated. For the first time in 10 years, The Center’s debt burden has been reduced to a reasonable level given the size of our organization.”
Vargas told Watermark that when he came onto The Center’s board, about a year and a half ago, it was nearly $400,000 in debt, had $8,000 in the bank and had a $330,000 balloon payment due in February of 2013. At that time, the board managed three properties: Forbidden City, The Center’s headquarters and the building that houses The Funky Monkey Vault, just south of The Center.
“We were in a tough situation,” Vargas said. “It didn’t make sense to carry all this debt.”
He said managing the rental properties was also taking energy away from fulfilling the organization’s mission.
“We’re not property managers and we don’t want to be property managers,” Vargas said. “The Forbidden City property needed renovation, and we didn’t want to put hard-raised funds into renovations.”
After a refinance was finalized in March of 2013, the center spread the word that it would be interested in a buyer for the Forbidden City property. It was ultimately sold for $290,000 to JAI Investments and Forbidden City’s lease will be transferred, so Vargas said the restaurant will stay for now, but he does not know JAI Investment’s long-term plans.
JAI Investments has not yet returned Watermark’s request for comment. Vargas said the buyers do intend to renovate the building.
“We didn’t want to sell the building, have it knocked down and change the character of Mills 50 Main Street,” he said. “We were really deliberate about who we were going to sell to.”
Vargas estimates the remaining two properties are worth about $800,000 and The Center’s current total debt is at $60,000. All of that debt is comprised of the remaining two mortgages.
“There may be people in the community who look at the sale of the building as a move of desperation, but it’s not that at all,” Vargas said.”[The Center has] several hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets that give us flexibility for whatever we plan down the road.”
Randy Stephens, executive director, said the sale opens some doors for The Center’s programming.
“The Center no longer has the same priorities it had 10 or even five years ago,” Stephens said. “We’re concentrating on working with gay families, senior programs and overall programs that benefit the entire community, not specifically the LGBT community. By removing the financial barricades set by the mortgages, we are now able to work toward creating such programs.”
