Odd timing, but in the last couple of days, two Friends of Unfair Park have inquired about the for-sale sign in front of the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre on Buckner. Yes, it's for sale -- has been since 2006, matter of fact, says Perry Jones of J&B Commercial, who's repping the 1940s manse. He tells Unfair Park this morning the property's "been under contract a couple of times" -- once, with a developer who'd hoped to scrape the property and rebuild -- but that would-be buyers have backed off for various reasons.
"We've had a lot of tire-kickers, obviously," he says, referring to folks just curious about touring the facility. "But with the market changing, it's been tough. And now, we're hoping to sell it to someone who will potentially remodel it." It's on the market for $750,000.
As for the reason behind the sale, the Scientologists had hoped to move into its new digs in Las Colinas in 2006;
now, "we plan to be moved at the end of February," says the woman who
answered the phone at the center this morning. "There's lots of
expansion happening," she says. And to what does she attribute that?
"Probably the re-release of the original versions of all the books
that were done a year ago," she says. "People studying them and going,
'When I use this in my life, it makes my life go better.'" --Robert Wilonsky
