2 years ago I went on the "tour" of NY Bethel. I had an "insider" tour, seeing many things that most people dont get to see.
One of the things that shocked me, was walking through the old printery building...I dont know the exact name of it, but its the older original building that is connected with the skybridge.
It was almost entirely empty, some of if being used for storage. As we made our way down to the bottom floor, the emptiness of it all was pretty amazing. The history of the building itself was cool. Then, the 90's carpet in the rooms, the entry, empty reception area was a bit eery. The entire building was mostly vacant.
This was before Warwick of course. I asked "why is this building empty? Seems like a waste of good space, and in a building already owned by WT. Why do we need to build a new compound in upstate NY?"
Obviously, space was not an issue, because all the printing is done offsite, out of country anyway. If the brothers were truly in need of "space", this building would be overfull and cramped in anticipation of a new structure...right?
The answer I got....."Why, look! we're expanding!!!" I just looked around.... and said.....WHY? This is a perfectly good building?
I was more or less dumfounded. Seemed like a perfectly good waste.... until you thought about the money end of it.
So, no, they dont NEED a new building, and they dont NEED more space. They WANT IT. Keep your eye simple right?