Like pieces on a giant Monopoly board, three sections of a steeple lay strewn Friday in the parking lot of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Roanoke.

Next week, Ntelos cellular phone service is expected to begin installing its new antenna inside the white fiberglass steeple that was lifted in sections Friday atop the Grandin Road church, said James Boyd of Morco Construction. Two cranes were poised to lift the new 3,800-pound steeple.

Splayed on the ground was the old copper-clad spire. The 69-foot wooden base lay forlornly -- with the metal stripped away for resale -- before it was hauled off to the salvage yard.

This is the latest twist in the cellphone saga for the Raleigh Court neighborhood. There is a well-known gap in cell service coverage along the Grandin Road and Brandon Avenue corridors.

In August, a company withdrew its bid to erect a 120-foot cell tower hidden inside a bell tower and topped by a 20-foot cross at St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church on Grandin Road. This is the second time the company, SBA Properties of Charlottesville, attempted to build a tower at St. Elizabeth's before withdrawing its own application.

Ntelos negotiated its own agreement to hoist an antenna inside the new 80-foot steeple at the Unitarian Church, about half a mile away at Grandin Road and Brandon Avenue.

Terry Smith, president of the Unitarian church's board of directors, said Ntelos approached them early this year and negotiated a five-year contract, which is renewable in five-year increments. She said Ntelos is paying for the new steeple, removal of the old one and necessary equipment.

"We value being part of the neighborhood and hope to be a good citizen with the Greater Raleigh Court Civic League," Smith said.

Chris Chittum, a Roanoke planning administrator, said Virginia PCS Alliance of Waynesboro applied on behalf of Ntelos for the building permit on Aug. 31; city officials issued a building permit Oct. 17. The entire project is valued at about $80,000.

"This is classified as a stealth communications antenna," said Chittum, who didn't know how many other antennas, if any, were hidden inside steeples.

Smith declined to specify how much revenue the church -- with a congregation of 300 -- would receive from the cellphone company, but said it was a significant sum for a small church with about a $200,000 annual budget. She said the proceeds will be used to sustain church programs and operations.

In 1985, the Unitarian church bought the 1948-era building from a Mormon congregation. In the past, the Unitarian church rejected a bid to erect an antenna on its 1-acre parcel across the street after receiving feedback from the neighbors and school officials.

The antenna could accommodate other providers, but Unitarian church leaders decided to wait and gauge how the Ntelos operations go before entertaining other requests. Ntelos also built a 10-by-22 equipment cabinet and erected a privacy fence.

Many churches are seeking creative ways to augment the donations on the offering plates.

"Many of the old resources and networks that congregations have financially are falling away," said Bill Leonard, dean of the Divinity School at Wake Forest University. "That is forcing churches to look for new partnerships with other community resources."

Chad Van Hyning, president of Greater Raleigh Court Civic League, said he sought information about the cell tower from the Unitarian church. He said the league has a neutral position on the project.

"Had they come forward with a proposal that was identical to St. Elizabeth's, they wouldn't have had an easier time," Van Hyning said. "I think it is the scale of the project."

The Rev. Richard Fife, the priest at St. Elizabeth's, said his church is still working on possible options for a cell tower on its hilly terrain.

"We're looking at something that would be substantially shorter now," he said. "We're taking our lead from the Unitarian church. The city and the neighborhood has said this is acceptable. That is what we've been trying to figure out. The question is to come up with a design that is aesthetically pleasing enough and is consistent with the basic neighborhood architecture."