Another failed “ideal org” — this is one of the older ones. Bought in 2007, it is part of the “old guard” of ideal org buildings bought in a flurry of activity in the first years after Miscavige announced his boondoggle program. Battle Creek, New Haven, Philadelphia, Plymouth, Bulawayo, Harare and Capetown were all purchased and decades later sit unoccupied and falling to pieces.
As I have pointed out many times before, if this “ideal org program” was really what Miscavige believed was the answer to expanding orgs and clearing the planet, he would just spend 50 million or whatever it would take to ostentatiously renovate them, and open the buildings that are doing nothing.
Here is the story from the BBC.
Church of Scientology ‘committed’ to Gateshead move
The Church of Scientology says it remains committed to turning a derelict nursing home in Gateshead into its North East base, more than 15 years after it acquired the property.
The church bought the former Windmill Hills home in 2007 for £1.5m, but the building remains boarded up.
It plans to move to Gateshead from its existing site in Sunderland once work is complete.
The church said “extreme care” was being taken over the scheme.
The Grade II-listed building, built in the late-19th Century, was originally a Victorian day school but has become a target for vandals after standing empty for several years.
The church said it had completed a “programme of urgent works to prevent further deterioration of the historic fabric of the building” including structural reinforcement, asbestos removal and the replacement of some rafters.
A spokesman added: “We are committed to a full historic restoration of this property, returning it to its original eminence and beyond.”
The church plans to build three new extensions, replace windows and reinstate some historic features which have been removed.
Gateshead Council agreed to the renovation plans in 2019.
A spokeswoman for the local authority said it was unable to provide any update on the development of the site.
The Church of Scientology, founded in the 1950s by US science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard, has a number of celebrity followers including actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta.
The church denies the claims.
In 2013, the UK’s Supreme Court recognised the Church of Scientology as a religion in a ruling that paved the way for a couple to get married in one of its chapels in London.
Once David Miscavidge is out of the picture (through death or imprisonment) the Ideal Orgs will eventually become virtual Storefront Orgs staffed by aging true believers.
(Gosh, I’m such a cynic.)
Another example of ’cause over MEST,’ by the organisation claiming to have the only tech of life.
Haha, even as Hubbard says, “they know you by your MEST” – rotting building(s).
And then of course Toronto, puchased in 1979.
From ACO Toronto
https://www.acotoronto.ca/building.php?ID=10683
RISK INFORMATION
At risk status
This building is at Risk
Information:
696-700 Yonge Street, Toronto is undergoing a demolition by deterioration (demolition by neglect). The property has been vacant for approximately 10 years (as of 2020) and is in a declining state of upkeep. Nearby community organizations have expressed concerns over the present state and future of the building.
BUILDING INFORMATION
Name & Location:
696-700 Yonge Street
Fredy, Toronto moved out of their building in late 2012, so that makes it just over a decade now. And they did so with yet more PR claims that turned out to be worthless – at least in normal human time frames:
Renovation Announced for Church of Scientology on Yonge
> https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2012/12/renovation-announced-church-scientology-yonge.6838
A couple of years later they were in trouble over the stiff tax bills for a high value city center property they’ve been unable to get their act together regarding; Philadelphia is a similar case:
Church of Scientology owes city over $100,000 as Yonge-Bloor site languishes
> https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/05/18/church-of-scientology-owes-city-over-100000-as-yonge-bloor-site-languishes.html
“The organization boarded up the Yonge St. building and submitted an application to the city for interior demolition work in 2013. At the time, Scientology spokesperson Erin Banks said the building’s interior would be remodeled.
Mario Angelucci, Toronto’s deputy chief building official, said a subsequent application submitted last December expands on changes the organization sought two years ago.”
2013 this gets recognised as a church in the U.K. Inspite of all the media attention and bad publicity. A big win for the Scientologists but despite this they are dropping in numbers in Britain.
And I see there’s a new delay in Austin’s “opening” of its remodeled and now “ideal” building, that’s been finished for a couple of years now but which they can’t even organize moving in to. It was scheduled for this coming weekend after having initially been delayed by a month, but now the date has been pushed out a week further and is only considered “tentative”. Plus of course the building in Chicago has been done for closer to 3 years, but they haven’t even mentioned a date for opening, and moving in to, it.
The CofS is proving amazingly incompetent and unreliable at managing “MEST” in the real world, most obviously when it comes to these buildings. That if anything puts a lie to all their claims to be able to do anything to improve the planet, much less “save” or run it.
Many of these properties have had multiple PR claims made about them over the years (and now decades), specifying that they would be done soon, or within about a year, or at least implying they are some sort of “priority” – not infrequently as part of a desperate response to authorities trying to take action against derelict buildings. The CofS has even gone so far as to go through complex and expensive planning processes – and then fail to carry through. This one was at least at one point threatened with being declared “blighted” and seized, and the others have faced similar outcries about their state and the persistent lack of action:
> https://inews.co.uk/news/scientology-church-faces-planning-blight-claims-historic-uk-properties-undeveloped-after-decade-1458425
In reading Tony Ortega’s site today I feel confident that Mickcrap has his attention totally fixed on the Masterson trial. So much so that he may be drug into the investigation of how a scientology lawyer had the DAs files and complained to the LAPD and Judge about statements in those files.