Article: HOLY SMOKE: LONDON SITE OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESS HQ TO BE MOVIE STUDIOS

by AndersonsInfo 16 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  dozy

  I wonder how much they sold it for and what will happen to the money?
  

  LDN Investments bought it for £50 million a couple of years ago - I assume they leased it to Purpose ( who in turn are leasing it out to Sky , Netflix etc ). This was well above the asking price ( which I think was guide price 35M - 40M ) and I know that the Society were really pleased with the proceeds for what frankly is basically a really dreary large office block.
  

  Ironically - probably it would go for £70 million plus now - property prices outside central London are rocketing as post covid people are decamping to the green belt & Mill-Hill is changing from a dull but worthy suburb to becoming a really trendy place with a kind of "Notting Hill" vibe.

  The sale presumably is in the 2020 accounts which lists total property sales as 70 million GBP ( which would square with the proceeds of IBSA House & other sales. ) The money presumably is being used to bankroll the Chelmsford development - the Watchtower Society is basically a tax exempt real estate development & trading company masquerading as a religious sect these days.

  Links:
  

  http://www.ldninvestments.com/properties/mill-hill-3/

  https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/216647/charity-overview
• 

  Phizzy

  So they simply sold the Office block and a bit of the surrounding Land for 50 Mill ? I presume the rest of the Site was sold to a developer for more ?
• 

  dozy

  So they simply sold the Office block and a bit of the surrounding Land for 50 Mill ? I presume the rest of the Site was sold to a developer for more ?
  

  Yes - the Society divided up the main Bethel sale into 3 lots - IBSA House ( small factory & large offices ) , Watchtower House ( main factory , smaller offices & residential ) & Millhill Kingdom Hall.

  Watchtower House ( the former "Bittacy Hill" factory conversion ) was sold to another property company ( link below ) - price unknown.

  The onsite MillHill congregation Kingdom Hall there is now under offer ( see below ). It was marketed as a "conference centre" ( the main asset there is the land - there is a big field there , but the Society were unable to get planning permission as it is "Green Belt" land with restricted development ).

  Most of the numerous flats and houses the Society owned in the vicinity and used mainly for accommodation for Bethel "heavies" have been sold now. All told - I would guess the Society have raised around £200 GBP million with zero capital gains tax liability for the whole property portfolio which considering it was built with ( effectively ) slave labour is a huge gain. Doubtless they will do the same with the new Bethel in Chelmsford in 15-20 years time and rinse & repeat....

  Links...

  https://ibsaproperty.com/properties/watchtower-house/
  

  https://ibsaproperty.com/properties/conf-centre-and-open-field/

  https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/ibsa_house_report.pdf
• 

  Rocketman123

  Jehovah knows the value of real estate transactions and investment. $$$

  
• 

  Mikejw

  I mentioned in my other thread about the investment department that the Jewish guy who bought watchtower often used to buy donated gold and jewellery from Br Peter Bullock.

  he was buying gold for years and often had lunch with the top brass and apparently always said if Watchtower house was ever for sale he would buy it for over asking price. This is exactly what happened

  this Jewish guy is mega rich, a bit like Trumps son in law who bought up the old watchtower in NY.

  the interesting thing about the London branch was that this Jewish guy asked the top brass if their volunteers could help look after the branch after the sale.

  this was supposed to go on for about a year or so but then covid happened and it slowed everything down

  the Jews want to make watchtower into a elite old people home (not much change then) but it’s taking much longer due to covid

  the brothers were going to move out completely then the Jews would have to hire a worldly company to do security and maintenance

  m so the Jews asked to branch could they hire your volunteers instead

  m the branch didn’t want to miss an opportunity so instead of the Jews paying the brothers still at watchtower directly the branch said pay us all that money and we will ask those their to carry on working as volunteers for us!!!!!!!!

  this is what is still happening today there is a skeleton crew actually living there and a whole bunch of volunteers travelling in every day to do the garden and clean and maintain everything

  surely those volunteers would be better off working directly for the Jews who have owned the site for a couple of years now? What on earth has it got to do with the Jdubs anymore why are they taking the money from the Jews and not giving it to the workers?
• 

  stan livedeath

  are people really that stupid ?
• 

  Mikejw

  are people really that stupid ?

  -

  Stan, there are people lining up to volunteer to do security and maintenance on the old WT house. They work hard in the vast gardens and so much work for free even though everyone knows it’s now a Jewish building and the Jews are paying WTower for all this work.

  The top brass must be laughing their arses off raking in all these millions from stupid volunteers

  so to answer your question- yes