St.
Petersburg Times
5/18/93
Scientologists
plan to build auditorium
by Wayne Garcia
CLEARWATER – The
Church of Scientology added a 13th property to its list of
Clearwater holdings Monday and unveiled plans to build a 2,500-seat
auditorium that will be available to be rented for public events most of
the year.
Scientology
officials said the auditorium, being designed as part of a $40-million
building planned for the former Gray Moss Inn site, will play an
important role in downtown redevelopment.
Surprised downtown
officials said that remains to be seen.
Scientology
spokesman Richard Haworth said, "Having a state-of-the-art facility
like this available for public use most of the year will bolster ongoing
efforts to revitalize Clearwater and make the downtown even more the
place to be."
The church needs
the auditorium only 10-12 weeks a year and would like to see it filled
with public events the rest of the time, Haworth said.
The facility will
feature high-tech sound and lighting systems, theater seating and a full
Broadway-style stage.
The auditorium is
planned for the corner of Franklin Street and Garden Avenue, one block
from Scientology’s International spiritual headquarters at the Fort
Harrison Hotel.
News of the
auditorium plans took some downtown Clearwater business owners by
surprise.
"I don’t
know how it will be received," said Phil Henderson, president of
the Downtown Development Board. More important than the need for
auditorium space is convention/meeting rooms, which are part of City
Commissioner Fred Thomas’ plans for the former Maas Brothers building,
Henderson said.
While Henderson
said the auditorium certainly won’t hurt downtown, he doesn’t
believe "the Church of Scientology is a factor for downtown
redevelopment."
Haworth said the
auditorium should complement any convention/meeting space and would
attract more people to downtown.
"This will
just be another feature to act as a magnet for downtown," Haworth
said.
The Scientology
auditorium also won’t compete with other venues in the area, such as
the 2,100 seat Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Haworth said. Ruth Eckerd
officials said Monday that they had no comment until they knew more
details of the Scientology proposal.
The land deals and
auditorium announcement Monday continue to show the Church of
Scientology’s commitment to Clearwater. Church members and some court
decisions say the church is a religious organization, while critics call
it a money-making venture and a cult.
The centerpiece of
Scientology’s latest Clearwater venture is a new building that will be
used to deliver top-level training and counseling to church members.
Clearwater will be the only place in the world where the training and
counseling, dubbed "Super Power" by Scientology founder L. Ron
Hubbard, will be offered.
As part of the new
facility, the church plans to build parking spaces and possibly a
parking garage at the former Merrill Lynch building, across Franklin
Street from the planned auditorium. No timetable for any construction is
set.
Officials with the
Church of Scientology Religious Trust in Los Angeles, the group
developing the Super Power building, filed two deeds for the parking
lot/garage property on Monday, Haworth said.
He said he did
know the details of the transactions or the sales prices. The deeds were
not available for inspection Monday at the county courthouse.
According to
public records, the two parcels at the southeast corner of Garden and
Franklin were bought in late April by J.T.M. Holdings of St. Petersburg.
Documentary stamps
on those deeds indicate a total sales price of $687,500. The parcels
contain two one-story buildings that are home to a day care center,
lawyers’ offices and an insurance business.
T.J.M. Holding’s
owner, St. Petersburg contractor Terence J. McCarthy, was also the
president of Graymoss, Inc., the company that bought the Gray Moss Inn
land before turning it over to the Church of Scientology Religious Trust
in August 1991.
More recently,
McCarthy pleaded guilty to two charges in a scheme to falsify federal
home loan applications in southern St. Petersburg. He agreed to pay a
$100,000 fine.
McCarthy could not
be reached for comment on the Scientology transaction.
The latest
Scientology purchase is needed to provide parking for the auditorium,
although Haworth said the church is not sure how many spaces will be
required under Clearwater’s development ordinances. The property is
suitable for a parking garage, Haworth said.
|