Real estate in brief

Congress to address minorities and foreclosures
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is hosting a congressional hearing tomorrow on how rising unemployment and home foreclosures are affecting different minority populations in the U.S. Rep. Edolphus Towns, the committee’s chairperson, emphasized in a press release about the meeting date, the importance of examining how the economic downturn affects people from different backgrounds. “For us to move ahead as a nation, we have to examine why the African-American unemployment rate in several communities more than doubles that of whites,” Towns said. “We must also take a look at the high rate of subprime loans and default mortgages within minority communities that are expanding an already enormous debt disparity.”

Loan firm takes larger offices
Mission Capital Advisors, a commercial and residential loan sale advisory firm based in Manhattan, whose clients have included UBS, Bank of America and New York Life, is moving to larger offices in New York City and Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The firm said in a press release that both new offices are substantially larger than the existing ones. It is also expanding to Newport Beach, Calif.

Former church site sold in all-cash transaction
A home of the century-old former Methodist church in Brooklyn’s Bay Ridge neighborhood has sold to the School Construction Authority for $9.75 million in an all-cash transaction, according to Massey Knakal Realty Services, which brokered the deal. The church, which sat on an acre of land at 362-364 Ovington Avenue on the corner of Fourth Avenue, was demolished last October. The property remains zoned for community facilities and it offers 92,000 square feet of buildable space. A new 680-seat elementary school and a smaller church are slated for the spot. TRD