Adaptive Re-Use: Church Opens in Former Casino

GRANTS PASS, OR - River Valley Church officially opened its doors at its new main campus in the former Flying Lark casino project in mid-Spring.

Since purchasing the facility for $9.5 million in late 2024, the church has been hard at work redesigning and renovating the facility to fit a high-capacity religious facility with activities nearly every day of the week. The main floor of the former casino has been turned into the main auditorium, seating several hundred guests, with a large stage, LED lighting system, sound systems, new interior acoustic wall systems, and state-of-the-art technology throughout.

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The interior renovation consisted of moving several walls, repositioning several rooms of the back-of-house area, and completely overhauling the former restaurant portion of the building into the "kids wing". Church staff also moved into the stunning office areas of the facility, which is now the multi-location church's main campus.

Following completion of the new project, River Valley Church sold its former downtown Grants Pass campus to Joy Church in an off-market transaction in early 2026 for $1,900,000.

Merit Commercial Real Estate sold the former Flying Lark building to the church, as well as represented River Valley Church in the disposition of a downtown office building, formerly their admin/meeting building.