Miami Shores Community Church is a landmark. For decades, the bells of the oldest Christian meeting place in the village provided a musical soundtrack. The golden-hued bell tower was lit up, a beacon visible from far away.
And it’s historic. In 1949, its white minister, Donald Douds, invited a Black colleague, the Rev. Edward T. Graham, to preach at the church for “Brotherhood Week.”
That was the Jim Crow era. Discrimination and hate were the law of the land. Two crosses were set ablaze at the church, and Douds was threatened.
The plaque at the Miami Shore Community Church.
The result was a rare victory for justice in segregated Miami.
“Because of this incident, the City of Miami passed an ordinance banning the burning of crosses,” reads a plaque out front.
Now, though, time may have run out for the building that celebrates its 100th anniversary this year and has been classified as a Florida Heritage site. A deal has nearly been struck to sell the property to a real estate firm associated with a disbarred lawyer who pled guilty in 2022 to money laundering, spent 2.5 months in jail and remains on supervised release.
Some see the deal, which by February’s end had not been consummated, as the only way to save the struggling congregation. But few are happy.
“The sale is an insult to those members 60 to 70 years ago that founded the church,” said Bill Generette, 83, who has been a member for 43 years.
The leader of the Bay Harbor Islands real estate investment company that may buy the church, Richard Waserstein, describes his motivation for the purchase this way: “It is, believe it or not, an income-producing property. We don’t want to knock it down.”
(Photo by Alejandra Bendana)
The old pump house was inside where the small chapel remains now.
Waserstein said the company, Waterstone Capital, owns and invests in dozens of properties, including large condos, and office buildings. Though he surrendered his law license after admitting involvement in a $112 million insurance fraud case and was sentenced to 13 months in prison – a sentence that was later shortened – he now says he was only a passive investor and pleaded guilty to avoid a harsher penalty.
“I am not a murderer, I am not a drug dealer,” he said. “I am not going to break into their houses. This is just a real estate investment.”
CHURCH EVOLUTION
In 1925, a pump house, known to some as the “The Waterworks” of Miami Shores, was opened on the church property on Northeast Fourth Avenue. It supplied water to the community from the first floor and housed firemen on the second. A fire truck was also garaged there.
(Photo by Alejandra Bendana)
Bill Generette outside the chapel holding a folder of church records.
The Miami Shores Community Church moved in around 1933. A sanctuary was built in 1950. The two-story school annex was added three years later.
For years, the church and school thrived. They were praised by many for taking a strong stand in favor of minorities, then gay rights, though some members grumbled and a few departed. Children who studied there and came from many faiths, grew up to be lawyers and professionals.
A choir performed on Sundays and meeting rooms became a sanctuary for support groups and a safe space for others.
Ricky Cox, 69, recalls becoming the first Black member of the choir in 1975. At the start, a few members had a negative reaction to his presence, he recalls. But with time, things improved.
“I learned to love instead of hate here,” he said, standing in the lush courtyard on a recent cloudy afternoon. “You can find good people everywhere.”
(Photo by Alejandra Bendana)
Ricky Cox at the sanctuary doors.
Then in 2011, the congregation voted on an “open and affirming policy” for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.
Jennifer Snyder, who is Jewish, was originally looking for a synagogue when she found the church, which was looking for new choir members in 2014. Though it was Christian, she said, she liked the messaging as well as the music.
“It’s my sanctuary,” she said, “my spiritual home.”
MODERN PROBLEMS
In the last decade or so, things have become less stable. The school associated with the church closed and renters replaced them. Miami Shores Early Learning Center, a preschool moved in. And Primer, a K-8 school, arrived as well. Today they have about 150 students total, said one representative of the preschool, who declined to be quoted.
On a recent Sunday, about 20 people including Snyder, Generette, and Cox, gathered in the small chapel on the side of the sanctuary for a service.
(Courtesy Jennifer Snyder)
Jennifer Snyder
A red-carpeted aisle led to a single framed image that hung alone on a white bricked wall. It showed Jesus Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. The sun passed through the stained glass, colored windows and illuminated the room.
Those present sang mostly Christian songs, and the Rev. Jessica Derise gave a stirring sermon.
“Those experiencing hardships in income or exclusion are more blessed than they think,” she said.
Derise is leaving the church on March 2, before the end of her expected term. The church has been buffeted by other problems recently as well. Flaws with wiring, roofing, and spalling have become serious challenges to the aging structure.
The decision to put the building up for sale was difficult. Virtually everyone interviewed in this story is sad. The church treasury is low, though, and big bills are ahead.
Generette acknowledged he was the only trustee to vote against the sale. Mark Sell, who has been attending since 1990, recently joined the board, believes the money raised from a sale could turn things around.
“We’re heartbroken,” he said, “but hopeful.”
(Courtesy Waterstone-Capital.com)
Richard Waserstein, president and CEO of Waterstone Capital.
The property today is valued at $3.5 million, according to the website of Realtor Robert Bourne. The commercial listing says it includes “37,121 plus square feet in an entire block.”
Bourne declined to comment on the property, “I am not saying anything until the deal closes,” he said before hanging up.
Waserstein, the disbarred lawyer, said he decided to make a bid on the church because, “It is a gorgeous property and a gorgeous area.”
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS
But Waserstein is an unlikely bidder for a house of worship in the Shores. His investment work deals in mostly large projects, including a condo building in Brickell and Family Dollar stores. He works with other investors.
In 2021, Waserstein was indicted by a grand jury in the United States District Court of Southern Florida for wire transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars from Compass Detox, drug detox facility he co-owned, to multiple personal business accounts as well as a non-profit organization called the Ness Group Foundation, according to court documents.
In an interview with the Biscayne Times, Waserstein said that he knew the money “was not coming from a good source.” On June 27, 2022 he was sentenced to 13 months of imprisonment followed by 36 months of supervised release. He surrendered his license to practice law two months later.
“I really wasn’t involved in law anyway,” he said.
If the deal is completed, he added, he hopes the church and schools will remain for years to come.
“It would be a shame for them to disappear to a different property,” he said. “They get to operate for five years with two five-year options. We want to fix it up and make it more of an asset to the community.”
But it is not clear if that deal will ever be done. Soon after speaking with the Biscayne Times last month, Waserstein texted that, “We may not be reaching a deal with the church. So the article May be mute.”
He called a day later to say there were problems with the building, structural and electrical, that “were greater than we first thought.”
But when asked if he was withdrawing the bid, he said, “Not yet.”
Could the church be demolished and replaced? Miami Shores code requires that historic preservation and planning and zoning boards approve changes to the property. Appeals go to the village council and then the courts. So, it’s possible, but complicated.
Annette Malkin, 44, moved into a house across the street from the church in 2023. She is worried about traffic congestion if it were to turn into a multifamily housing project.
“I think it's important to remain a place of worship and education or consider another community use for it,” Malkin said. “I hope the bell towers are restored under the new owners. It was something I looked forward to every morning and afternoon.”
Nina Ramirez and Chuck Strouse contributed to this report
This story is part of a collaboration between the Biscayne Times and the Lee Caplin School of Journalism and Media at Florida International University.