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Church to move into ex-Telatron buildings in Erie [Erie Times-News, Pa. :: ](Erie Times-News (PA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 29--The end of an Erie business has created an opportunity for a local church. The nondenominational Lake Erie Christian Fellowship is moving from Millcreek Township to two buildings in Erie that had housed the defunct Telatron Marketing Group Inc., a telemarketer that went bankrupt in 2008. The 200-member church bought the buildings for $670,000 on Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Erie. It plans to move by Jan. 1, leaving space it has rented for seven years at the former Hills plaza, about a mile west in Millcreek. The church will worship at the new site and add a day-care center, cafe, youth center and a program for military veterans, said Bryan Kowalczyk, a pastor at the church with his wife, Darci. "We are really excited," he said. "We are ready to make a difference." He said Lake Erie Christian Fellowship will double its existing space at its new home -- a 20,360-square-foot building at 1563-1571 W. 38th St. and a 4,176-square-foot annex at 1537 W. 39th St. The church will use the annex for the youth and veterans' centers, Kowalczyk said. He said the buildings' size and location appealed to the growing congregation. "We didn't have the room," he said. The other property in the three-building former Telatron complex is at 1537-1545 W. 38th St., the easternmost building. The 15,622-square-foot property sold for $735,000 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in June to WCS Partners LLC, of Erie, which is to put in office space. The original owners of the Telatron buildings are Alfred D. Covatto and his wife, Joyce M. Covatto, who also owned Telatron. The Covattos had to sell the properties in their personal bankruptcy, filed in 2011. Proceeds will go to their creditors, including the Internal Revenue Service and the state Department of Revenue, initially owed a total of $1.6 million. Thursday's sale all but wraps up the Covattos' bankruptcy. The buildings were their major assets. The Covattos tried to sell the buildings for $2.7 million while they were in Chapter 11 reorganization. A bankruptcy trustee, Tamera Ochs Rothschild, a lawyer from Titusville, oversaw the sales after U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas P. Agresti moved the case to Chapter 7 liquidation in February. Lake Erie Christian Fellowship made the only offer to buy the two buildings on Thursday. The church will inherit two leases. Forte Marketing LLC has a month-to-month deal at 1571 W. 38th St. Erie County government rents space for Erie 6th Ward District Judge Dominick DiPaolo at 1563 W. 38th St. That lease expires in 2018. ED PALATTELLA can be reached at 870-1813 or by e-mail. Follow him at Twitter at twitter.com/ETNpalattella. ___ (c)2014 the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) Visit the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) at www.GoErie.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |