Vous Church Pays $12.9M for Neighboring South Miami Church Campus

Vous Church, the Miami congregation led by pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr., paid $12,885,000 on Aug. 26 for One City Church’s campus at 6750 Sunset Dr in South Miami, according to the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser. The 3.44-acre site sits directly across Sunset Drive from the campus Vous is rebuilding at 6781 Sunset Dr.

Why it matters

The deal gives one church control of both sides of Sunset Drive at this stretch of South Miami. Vous now holds about 10.5 acres there across two parcels, both zoned Community Facilities and both carrying a religious exemption on the appraiser’s roll. A church-to-church sale keeps the site in religious use for now, out of reach of conventional developers working the area around Sunset Place. More deal coverage is on the South Florida hub.

The numbers

The appraiser record lists the sale at Official Records Book 35484 Page 0743, on a 149,846-square-foot lot with a 15,822-square-foot building. That works out to about $3.75 million an acre, or roughly $86 per square foot of land and $814 per square foot of building. One City Church Miami Inc took title in 2017 through a $100 corrective transfer from University Christian Church, so the record carries no market basis for the seller.

Vous paid far less per acre for its own campus across the street. The appraiser shows Vous bought the 7.05 acres at 6781 Sunset Dr from Fellowship Church for $6.5 million on March 17, 2021, about $922,000 an acre. In January 2024 it paid $12 million to Trinity Church Inc for 8.89 acres at 17801 NW 2 Ave in Miami Gardens, per the appraiser. Those three recorded purchases total about $31.4 million. Vous also owns 77 NE 40 St in the Design District, but the appraiser shows those transfers recorded at $100, so no price is counted here.

The rebuild across the street is moving. County records show permit 2025031803 for a 32,214-square-foot church addition at 6781 Sunset Dr, with a declared value of $15.63 million, and fire sprinkler permit 2026031873 covering 60,233 square feet, last inspected Sept. 30. World Red Eye reported the project as a 67,000-square-foot campus against a $32.5 million fundraising goal, with reopening expected in 2027.

What’s next

The record does not show a lease, and neither church has disclosed what happens to the 6750 Sunset Dr building. One City Church still lists the address as its service location on its website, so whether it is leasing back, relocating or winding down there is unconfirmed. Any change of use on the site would surface first as a permit or a South Miami land-use filing on folio 09-4035-000-0010.