TV Preacher Buys Piece of L.A. Skyline

Glendale television preacher Gene Scott has agreed to buy the landmark Church of the Open Door in downtown Los Angeles in a deal that has surprised planning officials and signals at least a temporary slowing in the race to develop office buildings in the central city.

It also assures that the Los Angeles skyline will continue to be emblazoned by the church’s two huge electric signs that proclaim “Jesus Saves.”

The $23-million deal, confirmed by Scott and the Church of the Open Door Thursday, was negotiated earlier this month after Lincoln Property Co., a San Francisco developer, defaulted on an agreement to buy the church complex, demolish it and erect a 33-story office tower.

The Church of the Open Door has been familiar for decades to many people who did not even know its name because of the rooftop signs, which are visible from the Harbor Freeway and other vantage points. Scott said they will remain intact.

Scott, who relies for most of his prominence and income on a growing broadcast ministry, said his two congregations, Faith Center Church and Wescott Christian Center, will transfer most of their activities to the 4,000-seat church, which will adopt the Wescott name. He said he plans to open a Bible institute for 1,200 students in two adjoining towers, one of which is the Rainbow Hotel, the other of which is vacant. The complex was built in 1913.

Most of Scott’s television programming will originate from the new location. He said he hopes to hold his first services at the new church on July 6. The Church of the Open Door last held a service downtown in June, 1985.

Scott said he has already raised $7 million and hopes to finance the purchase without resorting to a mortgage.

“Over my dead body will a wrecking ball now ever hit the front of that church or tear down those signs,” Scott said in confirming the purchase agreement.

Planning officials said the collapse of the Lincoln Property deal is symptomatic of a growing slump in downtown construction, first noted during the fourth quarter of 1985, in which developers have begun to heed warnings that vacancy rates could be headed above 18.5% by 1988.

Late last year, with 23 million square feet of office space available in the downtown market and an 18% vacancy factor, Los Angeles had begun to show some signs of being in danger of experiencing a bust potentially as severe as one that grips Houston, where vacancy rates had dropped one percentage point behind Los Angeles, experts on downtown real estate said.

In late 1984, a confidential review of downtown development by Chase Manhattan Bank concluded that, unless some planned projects were canceled, a total of more than 9 million square feet of new office space would have been opened downtown by the end of 1987 and that the new buildings would have a vacancy factor as high as 18.45%.

The analysis identified the church site as one of 10 in the downtown area for which major development plans had been announced.

Cosgrove and Richard J. Riordan, an attorney involved in downtown real estate transactions, agreed the default is a symptom of what may turn out to be a temporary slowdown in the pace of downtown construction. However, Riordan said, the softening of the previously hot downtown office building market may last as long as three years.

Developer Wayne Ratkovich agreed, noting that “I don’t think there is any doubt in anybody’s mind that it (downtown) is way overbuilt. Whether it’s three years or four years or five years, it (the shakeout period) is probably measured in years before there is a need to produce more office space downtown.”

“I think it is well known that there are cycles in office building development and leasing,” said Richard Cosgrove, acting director of the city Community Redevelopment Agency.

“You get periods when there is more product than the market is ready to absorb and (periods) when there is less than the market wants.”

John Miller, a Lincoln Property official involved in the abortive transaction, said his company had been “close” to making a development deal for the church site, but “we were not in a position to consummate a sale and we understand (the church’s position, but) we needed more time to put together our final arrangement.”

Details of the Scott deal were confirmed Thursday morning by the Rev. Dale Wolery, associate pastor of the Church of the Open Door, Cosgrove and an official of Lincoln Property.

For several weeks, Scott has been issuing fund-raising appeals during his TV show to finance a mystery project he kept secret until disclosing the purchase agreement to his congregation Wednesday night.

The evangelical Scott has established himself as one of the most eccentric presences in the so-called electronic church, both because of his skirmishes with various public agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission, and because he has said his church would accept gay members, he opposes laws to permit school prayer and believes women should have the right to choose to have an abortion.

Between 1983 and last year, Scott lost the licenses of three television stations and one radio station that the Faith Center operated until a protracted regulatory dispute with the FCC.

Some experts on downtown real estate were surprised by the collapse of the deal to demolish the church and erect what would have been an office tower with shops and restaurants.

Wolery said Lincoln Property notified the church several weeks ago that it had been unable to find a suitable partner with which to finance and construct the new building.

In late December, Wolery said, Lincoln Property defaulted on its purchase option, leaving the church, which has been holding its services on the campus of Azusa Pacific University in Glendora, without a buyer.

Wolery said Scott had expressed interest in the property as long as two years ago and that the Church of the Open Door contacted the Glendale preacher to reopen negotiations on Jan. 2.