COLORADO SPRINGS — The Phil Long Expo Center, the Pikes Peak area’s largest venue for everything from home-and-garden shows to auto expositions, would close its doors and reopen as a worship center under a plan a church official says is “100 percent go.”
The Springs Church, a fast-growing, nondenominational church on Colorado Springs’ north side, says it has agreed to pay $5 million to buy the expo center from Five West Holdings LLLP, a partnership headed by Phil Long Dealerships chief Jay Cimino.
Senior Pastor Gary Wilkerson said the purchase is scheduled to close Nov. 15. The church plans to remodel the 110,000-square-foot building and create a 2,000-seat auditorium that will host its first service Jan. 2.
The Springs Church, founded by Wilkerson in April 2009, has been renting space at the Jericho Center at 640 Chapel Hills Drive.
Early this year, the church started seeking a bigger venue as its weekly attendance grew to about 1,100 from 300, Wilkerson said. The Gazette
