[Church Pension Group] The Church Pension Fund Board of Trustees announced June 13 that the Church Pension Group has purchased new office space at 19 East 34th Street, in New York, from the New York Public Library.

CPG will retain ownership of the offices at 445 Fifth Avenue and has signed a long-term lease with the New York Public Library, which will occupy that space when CPG moves into its new headquarters.

“The work of CPG has expanded over the years in response to General Convention resolutions and the needs of our beneficiaries and constituents,” said the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, chair of the CPF board, “and the space the organization currently occupies is no longer suited to its needs.”

Since CPG purchased its current home office at 445 Fifth Avenue in 1993, the staff has nearly doubled – from 190 people to 320 – and the company has had to lease additional space in a nearby building to accommodate them while looking for new office space. That search has taken over three years.

“When the opportunity at 19 East 34th Street was presented to us, we were enthusiastic about it for two important reasons,” said Mary Kate Wold, CPG’s President and CEO. “First, it provides us with the space we now need. Second, because of the recent downturn in the real estate market, we were able to negotiate favorable terms, which makes the new office space an attractive investment opportunity. In addition, the New York Public Library’s leasing of the space we currently occupy provides us with an excellent not-for-profit tenant and incremental cash flow.”

The renovation of CPG’s new headquarters, which CPG hopes to occupy in late 2013, will take advantage of new “green” technologies. A communication will be sent to church administrators and beneficiaries prior to the relocation, alerting them to the upcoming change of address and the date that the move will be completed.

The Church Pension Group consists of the Church Pension Fund, an independent agency of the Episcopal Church incorporated by a special act of the New York State legislature in 1914, and its affiliated companies, which include Church Life Insurance Corporation, the Episcopal Church Medical Trust, the Church Insurance Companies (collectively, the Church Insurance Agency Corporation, the Church Insurance Company, the Church Insurance Company of New York, and the Church Insurance Company of Vermont), and Church Publishing Incorporated. CPG serves Episcopal clergy and lay employees and their families, as well as Episcopal churches and institutions, through the provision of pension benefits and services, retirement planning, life and disability insurance, health benefits, wellness strategies, property and casualty insurance, and book and music publishing including the official worship materials of the Episcopal Church.