Brooklyn Building sale

pc

I told my dad that it was rumored that the building sold for 120 mil. my dad said no he heard about 200 mil. Not sure if that's true or not. So I say" man their getting as rich as the catholic church 950 mil a year plus 200 mil not to bad".(LOL) He then acts proud of it(how disgusting). So I say you would thing they could pay the poor bethelites aliitle more than 90 bucks a month. He says well they take care of everything for them. It's just so pathetic.

Stephanus

I remember an article in a mag from the 90s where they boasted about how much real estate they had, even showing pictures of their Brooklyn Heights assets. They were claiming that these "blessings" were proof that God was on their side. Using that logic, it just proves that the Catholic Church, with its vast holdings of land and buildings, is the True Faith after all!

PinTail

I having lots of money shows God is with you then the Mormons take the cake:

They own Union Pacific, R J Tobaco, and many more IBM.

pc

Pintail- Welcome I haven't had the opportunity to welcome you. PC

SadElder

. Furman-Atlantic Witness building goes to contract

The view of 360 Furman St. from the Brooklyn Heights promenade looking toward Atlantic Avenue. The Brooklyn Papers File / Greg Mango

By Deborah Kolben
The Brooklyn Papers

A developer is in contract with the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society to buy the religious order?s mammoth, 12-story waterfront building at 360 Furman St.

While several developers expressed interest in the site, RAL Development Services purchased the Brooklyn Heights property for an undisclosed sum and plans to convert the 1 million-square-foot book and video distribution center into waterfront apartments, as first reported by The Brooklyn Papers.

The Manhattan-based company is best known for converting the Arthur Levitt State office building at 270 Broadway into residential and commercial use.

The Furman Street building, which rises at the end of Atlantic Avenue, between the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the East River, will serve as a gateway to the planned Brooklyn Bridge Park, a 1.3-mile commercial and recreational waterfront development between Vinegar Hill and Brooklyn Heights.

David Semonian, a spokesman for the Watchtower Society, commonly known as the Jehovah?s Witnesses, declined to comment on the sale price of the building but said all the proceeds would go towards ?worldwide Bible education work.?

According to sources, the building sold for $200 million.

The Watchtower society acquired the property in 1983 and own approximately 35 buildings throughout DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights. They have moved some of their printing plants to upstate Wallkill.

?It was our aim to not only sell the building but to locate a buyer who was interested in the objectives and goals of the community,? said Semonian.

Robert Levine, president and principal owner of RAL, says he is currently in discussions with the city and state to determine the future uses of the building and what relationship it will have to Brooklyn Bridge Park.

?We plan to use 360 Furman St. to enhance the southern gateway to the new park and provide an exciting waterfront destination,? Levine said in a written statement.

Details of the relationship between the building and the park are still being hashed out.

In November, Councilman David Yassky sent a letter to Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff requesting that the taxes generated from the sale go into funding the park. Any new taxes generated from the building would be new revenue since the building has been tax exempt because it is owned by a religious organization.

?In this fiscal crisis, New York City has little money to create and sustain parks, we need to find creative ways to guarantee income for the Brooklyn Bridge Park,? Yassky wrote.

Deborah Wetzel, a spokeswoman for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corp. (BBPDC), a subsidiary of the Empire State Development Corp. charged with building the park, said BBPDC officials are in discussions with the developer to determine whether the building should be included in the boundary of the park.

The deal is expected to close in May and the Watchtower society will remain in the building for one more year.?

View the April 17, 2004 Print Editions

More of The Papers' coverage of the Brooklyn Nets

Home - | - GO Brooklyn - | - Cyclones - | - About The Papers - | - Contact Us

willyloman

So I say you would thing they could pay the poor bethelites aliitle more than 90 bucks a month.

A better argument to get dubs to Think" might be:

So, why do they need $50 million in donations to expand the Watchtower Farm and purchase new printing equipment? Couldn't they use SOME of that $120 million they just got from the Brooklyn sale? I mean, the $120 million is virtually ALL profit, right? And it's tax-free.

By the way, the Brooklyn newspaper is reporting that local real estate agents have "estimated" the value of the building at $120 million; as far as I know, no actual sales prices has been made public. It could be much higher than that.

Edited to say: Oops, I posted this just as someone was posting a newspaper article that says the sales price was $200 million! Well, that just emphasizes my point.

sf

Just adding some 'tasty tidbets' for rainy-day reading: Our Witness Neighbors:

Taxes Not Paid by Witnesses Cost City $10 Million a Year

Brookly Heights Press , June 1, 1995

Jehovah's Witnesses, 1995
... Others come from the neighboring Jehovah's Witness plant on Furman Street to lunch ... a
private preserve of the Witnesses, also known as the Watchtower Bible and ...
www.wernercohn.com/Jehovah'sWitnesses1995.html - 9k - Cached - Similar pages

[DOC] Brooklyn Bridge Park:
File Format: Microsoft Word 2000 - View as HTML
... side of Furman Street between Montague and Joralemon. Given the nature of this use,
the upland area between Piers 4 and 5 may be contaminated. The Watchtower ...
www.bbpdc.org/downloads/documents/finalbiblio.doc - Similar pages

[PDF] Your Park Needs You!
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... Use the envelope inside this issue to contribute to this important work. 334
Furman Street B ro oklyn , NY 11201 ww w. b ro oklynb ri d ge park . ...
www.bbpc.net/Newsletter%20PDFs/BBPCnewsSpring03%20.pdf - Similar pages

[PDF] Transformed! Almost Two Acres for Brooklyn Bridge Park
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... Meanwhile, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, more widely known as the Jehovah’s ... its
intention to sell its highly visible building at 360 Furman Street. ...
www.bbpc.net/Newsletter%20PDFs/BBPCnewsFall03.pdf - Similar pages
Amzec
... You will also tour the Furman Street Building where you will ... murals of bible screnes painted by the Watchtower staff ... The first price is for the tour to New York ...
www.amzec.com/b.html - 16k - Cached - Similar pages

sf

Some very interesting reading here too:

Brooklyn

... floor apartment of a building on Furman Street, a ... Watchtower, their big sign read, as the glassy-eyed ... Following in the footsteps of Tina Price and William ...
mywebpages.comcast.net/monkshould/Brooklyn.htm - 101k - Cached - Similar pages

A portion therein:

[ Wanda also takes note of the Height's second most notable feature (the first being the Esplanade/Promenade, of course): the Jehovah's Witnesses.

The Bossert was a massive two-square block apartment building populated exclusively by Jehovah's Witnesses. Brooklyn Heights was the Jehovah headquarters for North America, has been for decades. In fact, the Jehovahs owned one-third of the Brooklyn Heights real estate, including some of the oldest and most beautiful examples of prewar Gothic architecture in the city. The Watchtower, their newsletter and national plea for converts, was published in plants on the dock of the East River and stored in warehouses under the Brooklyn Bridge. Midnight blue vans transport the flock from the Bossert and other Jehovah buildings to the printing plants every morning and then home every night. At noon on weekdays, streams of them walk up from the docks into the heart of the Heights for lunch, and at exactly one o'clock, they stream right back down.... Max calls them the "haircut people," because they all have the same do, probably styled with the same bowl. ]

Ailla

It's well known that The Trinity Episcopal Church owns 1/3 of midtown Manhattan.

Euphemism

?It was our aim to not only sell the building but to locate a buyer who was interested in the objectives and goals of the community,? said Semonian.

LOL Come off it, Dave. Since when has the Watchtower given a damn about the objectives and goals of the community?

Brooklyn Building sale

Share this