New Cambridge brokerage aims to help faith groups find new spaces

Relèven Realty works with faith groups who want to transition from one space into another, while keeping faith top of mind. CTV’s Alexandra Holyk explains.

A new charity real estate brokerage in Cambridge is looking to help faith groups transition from one space to another.

Based in Montreal, Relèven Realty specializes in preserving and repurposing under-utilized churches. To help facilitate the buying and selling of faith properties, the organization opened a first-of-its-kind real estate brokerage.

“There’s over 5,000 church locations that are facing crisis and facing the prospect of closing their doors in the next ten years,” said Cory De Villiers, managing director at Relèven.

Relèven is already getting to work turning an empty store in Ingersoll into a church.

“When I was a little boy, this place was a grocery store. Most recently, when we purchased it, it was a dance studio,” said Michael Watson, warden of the St. James’ Anglican Church.

The Ingersoll location is still an empty storefront, tucked between a hair salon and a music store, but the church will be operating in the space by next month.

“It is truly exciting to be settled after six years,” Watson said. “It’s a huge sense of relief. And I think that most of the members of our congregation feel the same way.”

The original building for the St. James’ Anglican Church was sold six years ago after facing growing maintenance costs and a shrinking congregation. Despite years of searching, the church found a new home just a block away.

“When we finally found this property, we had already been engaged with, a company called Relèven,” Watson said.

Relèven consults with congregations and communities to determine next steps, whether that means saving the space or selling it.

“When an organization makes a tough decision to close their doors, what we do is we help them find the local market experts, and we combine it with our real estate expertise in the faith property space,” De Villiers said.

The local realtors collect a commission. Relèven gets half and puts it towards the charitable sector, to support their main goal of giving back.

“We take a look at what the congregation wants to have that building for the future. We take a look at what the neighborhood and the community needs,” De Villiers said.