A former church on Forest Hill-Irene Road will be demolished to make way for new shops in Germantown but will be rebuilt to cultivate community.
The Congregation, three buildings totaling 11,590 square feet, will honor the history of the area, while adding vibrancy where vacant buildings now stand on the east side of Forest Hill-Irene north of Village Shops Drive. The suburb’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen unanimously approved a development contract on Monday evening.
Two buildings on the 1.2 acres are vacant. The residential-looking structure was formerly used as a hair salon.
The church most recently operated as a daycare center. It was built and opened as Forest Hill Baptist Church in 1950. However, in 1998 the church moved to the northwest corner of Forest Hill-Irene Road and Winchester Road, selling its new home in 2016 to Harvest Church of Memphis.
“We purchased the church in December of 2021 with the intent of revitalizing what it stood for — making it a social space,” said Kenneth Schweighofer who has partnered with lifelong Germantown resident Jason Speed on the project.
For Schweighofer, grabbing a cup of coffee is sentimental. He worked at a coffee shop in College Station, Texas during college, and every Sunday, he’s taken his sons to a coffee shop. He moved to Memphis for a job at Servicemaster but left to join Speed.
“This is about creating a place I can take my sons to, where I can go,” he said. “I left the corporate world to make this vision a reality.”
Wanting to put down roots in the Germantown community, he began to explore revitalizing the vacant church, but in working with professionals, they realized it couldn’t be saved. The fire sprinkler system caused significant flooding damage years ago.
“In the past year, we’ve learned the structure is not very solid,” said Schweighofer. “We were trying to figure out how to do the right thing. We can’t salvage the structure, but we are going to rebuild it as the way it originally was and make it a social space.”
The 1,990-square-foot coffee shop — a local business, not a chain — will be in the middle at 3060 Forest Hill-Irene Road. Schweighofer hopes tenants occupying the buildings on either side complement bringing people together at The Congregation. An outdoor patio will sit between the coffee shop and the building to the south.
Schweighofer and Speed are working with the Historic Commission to look for ways to enhance the site’s history. Andy Pouncey, city historian, is helping brainstorm ideas to share the rich history of the site.
Vice Mayor Mary Anne Gibson noted Monday night, she has a special connection to the church as she was baptized there.
“I look forward to what is coming and seeing it throughout the entire process,” she said.
Speed said it was challenging, but as a resident of the suburb, and developer and manager of nearby Corporate Gardens, he wants the shopping center done well.
“The intent of that property has been to bring people together and foster relationships,” Speed said. “That’s the intent of the coffee shop, and The Congregation — wanting to do that same thing again. While the building may change, the intent has not.”