Cerullo Says He’ll Spend $25 Million to Reopen PTL Theme Park

San Diego faith healer and evangelist Morris Cerullo said Monday that he will spend $25 million to reopen Heritage USA, a 2,200-acre Christian theme park in Ft. Mill, S. C., by next summer.

With his purchase of the site approved last week by U. S. Bankruptcy Judge Thurmond Bishop, as well as by the secured creditors owed money by scandal-ridden PTL Ministries, Cerullo will take control of imprisoned evangelist Jim Bakker’s former real estate kingdom, provided he comes up with the $45-million purchase price by Nov. 2.

Cerullo, 58, president of San Diego-based Morris Cerullo World Evangelism since 1961, said Monday that it is time the world forgave Bakker.

“The Bakkers have asked for forgiveness, and it is incumbent on us as God’s children to let the Bakkers know we hold no resentment toward them,” he said at a press conference in Ft. Mill.

Cerullo said he will not offer Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker roles in the ministry, although they would be welcome on the grounds of Heritage USA.

Bakker is serving a 45-year term in Rochester, Minn., for fraud and conspiracy in misusing donor funds in the now-defunct Praise The Lord ministry.

In May, Cerullo put $7 million into an escrow account for the purchase of the PTL TV network, which includes broadcast studios and use of a satellite that can reach 800 cable systems and 7 million homes.

Timothy Treadwell, lawyer for Cerullo and his organization, said the purchase will be completed as soon as it is approved by the Federal Communications Commission, which is expected late this month.

Cerullo has said he will move his operations to what he called “the New Heritage USA.” Although the South Carolina park, about 20 miles south of Charlotte, N. C., is in a region known for tobacco production, Cerullo said smoking will not be allowed, nor will drinking.

“He’s always been dreaming of something this size to bring together the Christian community,” Treadwell said.

After the purchase is completed, Cerullo will spend $25 million on renovations and construction in the park, said Treadwell and Al Newman, a Cerullo spokesman with the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton in Los Angeles.

That money will go to clear wreckage left over from a hurricane that struck the area last year, as well as toward completing a hotel and repairing TV studios.

Before the reopening next summer, Cerullo will also revitalize the resort’s water park, hotels and campground.

Cerullo has hired two well-known real estate specialists to help manage New Heritage USA. William Lund, known for his work at Disneyland and Disney World, will chair Cerullo’s asset management team. Hal Tysinger, a North Carolina native who specializes in rejuvenating slumping developments, will become chief operating officer.

Treadwell said the deal was completed after “all the appropriate language” was worked out with lawyers for the secured creditors.

“Now we’re getting ready to close,” he said.

Cerullo said he plans to employ 600 to 700 people when the complex opens next year.

“I am extremely happy that all the secured creditors have issued their approval and that we may now move forward with plans for the New Heritage USA,” Cerullo said in Ft. Mill. “I am gratified with the trust that has been expressed with me and my new ministry.”

In California, Cerullo is known for abortive real estate deals. He purchased the landmark El Cortez Hotel in downtown San Diego with plans for creating an evangelism school. The hotel was used briefly for that purpose before it was sold in 1981.

He also proposed a religious education and retirement center on a 200-acre site in Mira Mesa before selling that land to a developer.

Newman said Cerullo is better prepared for the Heritage USA purchase.

“This time around, he’s got professionals behind him,” Newman said. “He has the financial resources to make this happen.”

“I don’t believe he would have gone this far unless he knew it would be completed,” he said.

Cerullo did not disclose the source of the financing .