Inside The Church of Scientology's New Hollywood Lair: Blue Prints Reveal Secret New Digs
April 26 2023, Published 6:30 p.m. ET
A RadarOnline.com investigation has exclusively uncovered the blueprints for Scientology’s new $13.5 million East Hollywood lair --- just three city blocks away from its massive West Coast headquarters called ‘Pacific Area Command Base.’
Scientology recently added the 6,700 square-foot abandoned church turned into a swanky gallery space to its growing Los Angeles area real estate portfolio – and many are scratching their heads trying to figure out how the secretive organization plans to use it.
The one-story red brick Gothic-Revival style building was built in 1926 as the Bethany Lutheran Church sits on a 10,250 square-foot lot, with an outdoor patio space and parking lot, records from the LA Department of City Planning show.
The building features a 30-foot-high ceiling, a full kitchen, revamped stain-glass windows, and a 320-square-foot mezzanine area overlooking the vast open space, records obtained by RadarOnline.com show.
The sale of the Sunset Boulevard property was first reported by CoStar News, a commercial real estate website which learned the buyer is listed as ‘Building Management Services’ – non-profit agency created by Scientology in 1987 to quietly gobble up properties.
BMS’s CEO is Coburn Knight, a former member of Scientology’s ‘Guardian’s Office’ or ‘Office of Special Affairs’ that is described as the group’s intelligence agency like the CIA or the KGB, according to published reports.
“BMS is one of the entities set up to buy properties,” former high-ranking Scientologist Mike Rinder told Tony Ortega’s Underground Bunker website. “It might even own the Hollywood Guaranty Building and other properties in Los Angeles, but I am not really sure.”
The property was abandoned for years until its former owner Full Grace Church and sold it to developer Robert Herscu for $3.7 million in 2014. The developer renovated the property and turned it into a swanky studio performance arts venue called “Big Art Church.”
Oddly, Herscu’s renovations angered preservationist because he removed the church’s Christian based stain glass windows which he claimed would make it difficult to rent.
“The stained-glass windows are references to Christian faith and theology, and the requirement to retain the windows imposes religious imagery on the project in the absence of any historical justification and will impose the promotion of religious values and beliefs on the applicant and prospective tenants, likely constraining the project's marketability,” Herscu complained after city officials halted renovations.
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The property is located about three blocks away from church’s iconic ‘Big Blue’ headquarters known throughout LA for its 16-foot-tall rooftop ‘SCIENTOLOGY’ logo crowned with a Christian cross. Scientology reportedly owns about 25 other properties throughout the LA area.
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