Most people know Jehovah's Witnesses as the religious group that share their evangelical views by knocking on people's doors, but many are not aware that the congregation actually has some significant real estate assets in Brooklyn.
In fact, the Witnesses are looking to sell a few properties they currently own: the 733,000 square foot headquarters complex at 25-30 Columbia Heights in Brooklyn highlighted by bright red, 15-foot-tall letters that read "Watchtower," as well as two more properties nearby.
As it turns out, the three properties are offered for sale through a bidding war amongst developers, which is anticipated to bring in as much as $1 billion in sales.
"It's a huge asset sale," said Samvir Sidhu, the chief executive of Megalith Capital Management, which is responsible for developing - along with two other partners - two luxury condos on properties formerly owned by the Witnesses in Dumbo.
The company is also looking to bid on at least one of the three properties that the Witnesses have just put on the market.
Sidhu continued, "That is a testament to how astute they are, not just as real estate owners but also investors and sellers. There is obviously an aspect of market timing here."
Apparently, Jehovah's Witnesses have slowly been relocating away from Brooklyn. The New York Times reports:
"Over the last decade, the Jehovah's Witnesses have been slowly leaving Brooklyn, where they have been based for more than a century. In a long-range plan to relocate upstate, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the group's legal and publishing entity, has gradually been selling off a real estate portfolio of nearly 40 properties in Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo. This careful divestiture has unlocked development and is reshaping the landscape in prime Brooklyn."
The latest batch of properties up for sale, aside from the headquarters, includes a residential building in Brooklyn Heights, as well as a large parking lot in Dumbo.
These are not the last of properties owned by Jehovah's Witnesses either, but they are the most sought-after by developers.
