Bradford College sale has city buzzing; Buyer working out final details

By Jason Tait , Staff Writer Eagle-Tribune

HAVERHILL - Jo Cobbett of Bradford, who graduated Rhode Island-based Zion Bible College three years ago, likes to visit the Ocean State campus occasionally to see friends. She can save her gas money because they are coming to her.

The pending sale of the shuttered Bradford College campus to Zion Bible College has the city buzzing and relieved that the long search for a new tenant is nearly over - from neighbors who have waited seven years for such a deal to happen, to locals who share the school's religious beliefs. Cobbett, a nurse at Merrimack Valley Hospital, said Haverhill is fortunate to get Zion.

"It's just such an encouragement to have them here for Haverhill in general," Cobbett said. "I think it's really going to be a blessing to a lot of people."

The Bradford College campus is being bought by Hobby Lobby, a national chain of retail hobby stores, which will donate the campus to Zion, Mayor James Fiorentini said.

David Green, Hobby Lobby's chief executive officer, is of the same denomination as the college - Assemblies of God.

Fiorentini said Zion was preparing yesterday to sign a purchase and sales agreement with Bradford College owners Angelo Gordon & Co. of New York.

The Rev. Otis Stanley, chairman of Zion Bible College's board of trustees, has said Zion plans to open in Bradford as soon as the fall semester of next year. It is selling its 40-acre campus in Rhode Island.

Stanley said a move to Bradford would be a geographic advantage because the school could recruit students from Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

All students at Zion major in biblical studies, and many become pastors and missionaries.

Zion's anticipated move means Haverhill is gaining a few hundred college students with strong moral values, said Kent Whitecotton, interim pastor at New Life Christian Assembly at 986 Main St., the city's only Assemblies of God church.

"There are a lot of good things that will come out of it," Whitecotton said. "You have, basically, kids who are there for a purpose and a reason. They try to make good choices in their lives."

Whitecotton said the addition of Zion to Bradford could spawn another Assemblies of God church in the city.

"The advantage for us is we'd get a lot of young workers for the church," Whitecotton said of the evangelical ministries of the college students.

Cobbett, the Zion graduate living in Bradford, who also is Whitecotton's sister-in-law, said Zion students are highly engaged in the community. They spend time in public areas and talk about religion with passers-by and hand out literature, and they like to visit prisons, and homes for the elderly.

Zion students pay about $12,000 a year for tuition and board. "They are not rich or anything," Cobbett said of the students. "They are just all-in-all really nice people. They want to do things that help. They don't want to destroy. They want to build up."

Bradford College closed in 2000 due to financial problems after 197 years as a liberal arts school. It was bought more than a year later by GFI Partners, an Angelo Gordon & Co. affiliate. The college campus features eight buildings, including three signature halls fronting South Main Street - Academy, Haseltine and Denworth.

Neighbors have been pushing for an educational institution to fill the empty campus since it closed seven years ago. "We're very excited, obviously," said Barbara Piccolo Greenwood, co-president of the Bradford College Neighborhood Association.

Zion officials and Angelo Gordon & Co. did not return several calls for comment yesterday.

Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby has 390 stores in 32 states, but none in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, according to the store's Web site. Forbes Magazine lists the Hobby Lobby CEO among the nation's 400 richest people at $2 billion. Hobby Lobby is involved in a variety of national and international ministry projects.

In February 2005, Green told Charisma magazine he "believes God has blessed his business so he can share his money with others." The money Zion Bible College anticipated using to buy the school property will instead be earmarked for renovating the shuttered college campus, Fiorentini said.

Assemblies of God Founded: Late 1800s as a religious revival in Missouri and Texas, then in California and elsewhere. Growth: In 1914, about 300 preachers and laymen gathered from 20 states and several foreign countries for a "general council" in Hot Springs, Ark., to develop a plan of action. Constituency: More than 2.6 million people in the United States and more than 48 million overseas. Churches: More than 12,100 churches in the United States and 236,022 churches in 191 other nations. National headquarters: Springfield, Mo. Includes an administration building, the Gospel Publishing House and the International Distribution Center. Source: Assemblies of God Web site, www.ag.org