Writing about Scientologists is always a tough assignment, as the group isn’t fond of the media and does what it can to hamper critical reporting.
Which is why the Tampa Bay Times has done an amazing job in putting together a lengthy piece about how the church or members of the church are buying up downtown Clearwater, Fla., the site of their international headquarters.
Together with some cool graphics from GoogleEarth that show Scientology’s stranglehold on local properties, the story reminds us all that the Church of Scientology has been threatening to take control of the city since 1975. In the past three years, it’s doubled its footprint downtown. Here’s how it starts:
THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY and companies run by its members spent $103 million over the past three years buying up vast sections of downtown Clearwater.
They now own most commercial property on every block within walking distance of the waterfront, putting the secretive church firmly in control of the area’s future.
Most of the sales have not previously been reported. The Tampa Bay Times discovered them by reviewing more than 1,000 deeds and business records, then interviewed more than 90 people to reconstruct the circumstances surrounding the transactions.
Even city leaders said they didn’t know the full extent of the purchases until they were shown maps created by the Times.
The church, its members and companies they control now own 185 properties that cover 101 acres in the center of downtown.
Finding all this out took lead reporter Tracey McManus six solid months working full time on this story. She wrote a piece a year ago about Scientology’s property grabs, so she’s been aware of the situation for some time.
She found out some creepy details about how the property sales took place.
In interviews, sellers said most of the transactions unfolded the same way. A broker who was a Scientologist approached a downtown property owner. Made an offer. Paid in cash.
Many of the properties weren’t on the market. And half the sales were for more than double what the properties were valued by the county property appraiser, the Times found. In six cases, buyers paid quadruple the property’s value.
Most of the new owners have done little with their acquisitions. Block after block, vacant lots sit untouched, and storefronts remain empty: A former jewelry store. An empty Walgreens. A deserted coin laundry.
So the blighted downtown remains blighted; a slap by the church and its members against a city that has fought with them for decades.
Tom De Vocht, a former Scientology executive who oversaw the church’s property in Clearwater from 1996 to 2001, said he believes Scientology is responding to the city’s efforts by creating a buffer to keep the public away.
“They’ve got one intention, and one intention only,” De Vocht said. “Buy up as much property as they can for the church — whether they use it or not, whether they let it sit there and rot — so no one else can be there.”
And now a bit about the religion/business:
Scientology’s survival depends on the preservation of its headquarters in Clearwater.
Scientology has said it has 10 million followers, but surveys and accounts from former members suggest there are no more than 30,000 worldwide. The church’s influence comes from the estimated $3 billion in cash and assets it has collected from its followers.
Clearwater is the center of that revenue stream. Scientologists from across the globe make pilgrimages to the campus, called Flag. It’s designed not for recruiting new members but for hosting established followers. The campus collects millions each week through fundraising and payments for expensive courses and high-level religious counseling not offered anywhere else.
Visitors are expected to stay in Scientology’s hotels and eat at private church restaurants. Flag is run by the church’s full-time workforce, the Sea Org, whose members sign billion-year contracts and work around the clock. Defectors have said they were paid less than $50 a week.
This effort to create the world’s first Scientology city brings to mind the days when a Hindu guru, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, bought up thousands of acres of land in central Oregon in the early 1980s for his world headquarters. It collapsed a few years later after reams of coverage and police investigations.
I wonder if any Scientologists took home any lessons from that and resolved to be a lot slower and wiser in the taking over of a city.
There are some jaw-dropping factoids in this piece.
All together, 32 companies bought 92 downtown properties since 2017. Of the $103 million spent, $99 million was paid in cash.
Nearly all of the roughly two dozen people listed as operating the companies are Scientologists. They have completed courses and spiritual counseling that can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Some have donated millions to the church. The family of Moises Agami, a developer whose companies bought 20 storefronts and a parking lot last year, has donated at least $10 million.
Read that again: $99 million in cash.
I’m curious whether there are any houses of worship left in downtown Clearwater and what their leaders must think about all this property acquisition.
The church attracts members through a theology of self improvement and understanding. It teaches that expanding Scientology is key to saving the world, then wields a system of totalitarian policies to keep parishioners in line.
Members have to answer to their “ethics officer” for any act of disloyalty to Scientology’s mission. Mike Rinder, who led the church’s intelligence arm before defecting in 2007, said that when it comes to property around Flag, there’s no real distinction between whether it’s owned by the church or a parishioner.
“Most religions have a fundamentalist wing,” Rinder said. “There’s no such thing in Scientology. You are a fundamentalist Scientologist, or you’re not one at all.”
Do be sure to read the whole thing, as there’s no paywall, thankfully. The piece ends with a list of some of the businesses that are moving out of Clearwater because they don’t want to deal with the Scientologists and other businesses that refuse to locate anywhere near downtown, for the same reason.
There’s an interesting sidebar with interviews with Clearwater city council members who are slowly realizing that the Church of Scientology has them in a stranglehold. Moreover, all this property is tax-exempt because the federal government declared Scientology a church in 1993.
In all, it’s an amazing piece of work and I hope this project snags all sorts of awards. I’ll end with one of the sidebar quotes.
(Mayor George) Cretekos said it the church and its parishioners must support the idea that downtown is for everyone. “Maybe they want a Vatican City,” he said, “but even Vatican City is open to the public and welcomes the public.”
Photo of Scientology’s international headquarters from TampaBay.com.
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