Friendship Baptist is the oldest black Baptist congregation in Atlanta, established right after the Civil War. The building itself dates from around 1880. Morehouse College moved to Atlanta from Augusta at their invitation, and Spelman actually started in their basement.
The present church site is directly across the street from the college/Atlanta University complex (though closer to Morris Brown), so they will lose not only historic value but proximity to the school.
But sufficient money ought to allow them to move the building brick by brick and set it up again nearby (lots of vacant land in the vicinity).
The problem is Mt. Vernon Baptist, which is actually closer to the Dome (on the same side of MLK and contiguous w/ the Dome - FBC is across MLK). The building is pure 1960s and has no historical value whatsoever - but they are in the middle.
I drive right through that intersection on my way to work.
I don’t think you could buy a similar property in the area, build two new churches of like size and caliber and get it all done for 30 million. Churches aren’t cheap to build and the land and design work is going to eat up about 7.5 of the 30. That leaves about a little over 11 per building — nope, not a good deal.
Now I know who's responsible for me getting stuck at the light at Northside and MLK all the time.