The St. Louis scientology org building on Delmar — it sure looks warm and inviting
An update from some ex-scientologists familiar with the failed efforts to make St. Louis “ideal.”
You may recall, we heard from them back in 2019 — which I covered in a blog post St Louis Blues — An Epic Ideal Org Scam
Note: the other two orgs mentioned in that first para are still not close to becoming ideal either…
And also remember, this is the organization that boasts they have the ONLY workable “management technology” on earth.
Here is the update from our observers.
The Church of Scientology bilked $17 million out of Scientologists to fund the St Louis ideal org. It sent people into deep financial ruin — some later filed bankruptcy and lost homes to foreclosure.
The Co$ decided the building on 6901 Delmar, the building they have been in for a very long time, was Ideal after all and are keeping it after conducting a SCIENTOLOGICAL DEBUG.
So, the “new” ideal building they bought for $1.6 million back in 2007 is now officially listed for sale with the 2nd commercial real estate company and they are STILL not disclosing the price. The last company made threats to sue if anyone disclosed anything about the price. Apparently they don’t want the sheeple doing any math or asking too many questions about what happened to their donations. In addition to the $1.7 for the building, they also paid $500,000 for the lot next door.
Apparently scientology has some new technology – Muzzled Marketing
Since 2007 they have paid hundreds of thousands in taxes on this empty building, these are the last 3 years recorded:
What a complete shitshow this is.
The scientology management masterminds have not only NOT achieved an “ideal org” building, after nearly 20 years, they first decided the building they were in was not good enough to be “ideal,” so they forked out for another buildings that they pay at least $50Gs a year in taxes for, and then decided that they should not have bought that building and should just stay in the one they have. But they have not unloaded the new building and have expended at least 15 x $50k or $750,000 on property taxes during this time. And their brilliant strategy for now selling it is not to give a price…
Only in scientology could incompetence like this be ignored.
This post got me thinking about Chicago’s Ideal Org that was supposed to open in 2016 in Printer’s Row in the super trendy South Loop near 3 Colleges. You’d think they’d be all over getting it done so they could have a presence in the ‘hood. I just checked the Googles and it looks like they’re close to finishing, but yeesch, 6 years after their planned ribbon cutting? How much has this cost them and for what?
They don’t have any RPFers to go help
They don’t have anybody to help as most of them got recruited to Nashville Org as staff.
St. Louis sounds like a place where the cult’s toxicity has accumulated beyond a critical point. I can’t imagine anyone being there even making a pretense of being happy.
i am very happy living in st louis. where do you live?
I re-read my comment, and I realize that it sounds like I’m trashing STL… My apologies. My meaning was to say that I can’t imagine anyone working for Scientology being able to tolerate life in that org. While I do not live in the area, I do have relatives nearby and I was in the city last year. It has it’s major challenges like many of our urban centers, but I don’t mean to bad-mouth the city. By the way, the City Museum was one of the coolest places I’ve been to in a long time!
thank you for such a kind reply. appreciate it!
No problem, I’m glad you got me to look back at what I’d written.
Wow. Where is the 17 million dollars?! What a scam!
Five hundred thousand dollars for building renovation.
All the rest for Dave.
Keeping Scientology Working gives the all time formula, for an org’s success.
The followers/staffs have to employ the “tech” (the quackery practices which are indeed pretty intricate, demand smart and caring practitioners) to success.
Simple as that.
Hubbard left copious amounts of quackery intricate practices, including the confidential exorcism of OT 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 (which addresses the surplus souls, body-thetans and body-thetans clusters, whom Xenu dumped onto earth and had implanted with the R6 implants for 36 1/2 days, the duration of the 4th Dynamic Engram which Xenu perpetrated).
In a nutshell, the “tech” has to be successfully employed, then there is public demand.
The promotion of Scientology and then not delivering the “tech” (the quackery) to success, results in the current condition.
What undermines the movement, is the “tech” (the quackery syllabus is “The Bridge to Total Freedom”) does not produce supernatural positive results.
You cannot make the Hubbard “tech” work and produce OT miracles, as Hubbard promises.
So, it is a futile movement, pushed towards this “technical perfection” (employing the quackery correctly to get the successes), which is unobtainable.
Hubbard is committing one of his own High Crimes, of creating a massive problem for the movement followers and staffs, they cannot achieve what he promises in no way.
Keeping Scientology Working thus is a betrayal, honestly, by Hubbard, blaming the followers to achieve the unobtainable.
Thus empty Ideal Orgs.
You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
The non Scientologists of the world are waiting to see if Scientology’s quackery stepladder does achieve any special human beings spiritually improved, and right they are to stay away until Scientology does so, which is futile.
So empty the orgs will be.
Chuck Beatty
ex Sea Org, 1975 to 2003.
WOG comes from ‘Worthy Oriental Gentleman.’
Idle Morgues aren’t the only edifices to Kult grandiose delusion.
Just down the road the Kult proudly trumpeted Ideal NarCONon Yarramalong that was purchased for at least 50% over its real worth. Several years on and Kult couldn’t sell it for 30% of their original purchase price – last time I bothered to check (I think last year) Kult still owns the derelict remnants of what once featured proudly in $cientology magazines worldwide as a jewel in the crown of Herr DwarfenFuhrer.
They snatched defeat in their appeal against the local council not giving them permission to run a “rehab” there despite the laws being heavily in their favour. The hearing itself was comedy gold to watch as the “standard Technology” solutions perplexed and dumbfounded innocent bystanders while I literally had to stifle laughter a few times.
Isn’t delusions of grandeur a symptom of narcissism?
It’s bizarre if they really already collected the full $17 million. I believe there are other reported cases where orgs raised money only to be hit up themselves by international management to donate it to the urgent cause du jour, presumably then left to start over again. Also, FSMs may have taken up to a 15% bite of that, leaving the regges flush (I recall reports that ED Chad Lane made out like a bandit) – but that still should have left the org with enough money to go forward with the project.
St. Louis and the other orgs mentioned seem to be among the small and failing ones that are down to just a couple dozen active members left. I expect some of them are just unable to raise enough money on their own, hence the “alliances” currently being touted, but maybe management doesn’t actually consider it very important for them to actually get “ideal” buildings even if they can raise the money on their own. Still, the CofS is going to have to keep completing and “opening” some of these buildings that are left, or be seen as failing.
It always amazes me how wealthy people spend their money. Investment in Scientology could be equated to gambling losses. If Scientology was valuable, why not fund endowments for scholarships or fellowships? Instead they buy real estate that creates more expenses to remodel & maintain. There would be more benefit with driving down the street throwing cash out the window.
They’re being sold a lie by Miscavige – the lie of “expansion”. The whales are shown only what they want them to show. Most politicians regardless of party won’t touch them with a barge pole either for the same reason – Scientology is useless even in the coldest realpolitik terms (a religious group of any sort can be your ally and get results for you, but this is not one of them).
I used to drive by the Delmar location every 2 weeks. I probably haven’t gone by in 9 months. The building has seen better days, the parking lot had pot holes and weeds growing in the cracks and the sign in front has also seen better days Based on the cars in the parking I don’t know if there are 30 members. It is hard to believe anyone would buy into $ci these days. Any info on St Louis would be appreciated.
This was something that I posted to ESMB Redux a while back:
Value Engineering
Definition : Value engineering is an exercise that involves most of the project team as the project develops. It is about taking a wider view and looking at the selection of materials, plant, equipment and processes to see if a more cost-effective solution exists that will achieve the same project objectives.
Value engineering was non-existent in the process of ideal orgs, at least the ideal org that I was aware of. Maybe actually the opposite was the operating basis. During the fundraising, org public were made aware of the entire process by the landlord office, fundraisers, etc., more or less to make everyone a stakeholder in the process. We were told many of the more finer details of the building plans. I happened to be in the construction industry at the time, and had SCN friends in construction. The lack of attention to value engineering was staggering!! We all had many conversations about how we could speed up the process because we could build the building for way less. Another point in this fiasco, maybe the most important point, was the breaking of a sacred rule. The rule goes like this : Never fall in love with the property. One should always have a dispassionate viewpoint over property, because if you don’t, it will cost you. Apparently, cost is no object.
For myself, the ideal org project for our area acted as a never ending supply of conflicting datums. Fundraising, withered orgs, people leaving (Suddenly people were missing or hard to get hold of) events, events, events took it’s toll. It didn’t cause me to leave at that time, but I became very wary of what was going on. I had to take the attitude of “We will See”. I guess that leads to the next point.
Ideal org buildings are very, very empty. I drive past the org in my city on occasion, and there are never more that eight cars in the parking lot. If you frequent Tony Ortega or Mike Rinder, you get a feel for this. There are frequently reports of recently opened ideal orgs with no cars in the parking lots. This is a standard.
Doesn’t even appear on real estate sites like Zillow. I’m looking at a street view on Google Maps and see a symbol for the Free Masons up by the roof line. Was this an old Masonic Temple?
Yes, it was a Masonic Temple.
To: all commenters on this blog.
From: Lieutenant Commander Shanaynay Muhammad Nation of Islam/ Sea Org.
Re: criticism of the Ideal Org program.
I hereby issue an Executive Order which has been approved by Most Theta Leader David Miscavige COB RTC that all commenters on this blog are to cease nattering about the Ideal Org program immediately! His Holiness David Miscavige COB RTC is the most theta being in the MEST universe and holds the keys of life and death over all thetans. He is fully qualified to launch illustrious programs such as these which will eliminate such wog ideas as freedom and democracy. Only under the illuminated leadership of Most Holy COB RTC will we bring in a new and glorious world! To accomplish this, all nattering must cease immediately!
And you are not to refer to Most Holy COB RTC as ‘Slappy’.
ARC,
Lieutenant Commander Shanaynay Muhammad Nation of Islam/ Sea Org.
To: MIDSHIPMAN Shanaynay Muhammad Nation of Islam/Sea Org aka Bootylicious.
From: Alcoboy.
Re: above executive order.
Let me guess. You’re still incarcerated.
If you think that any one of us are going to take the above natter seriously, I have a company in Atlanta I would love to sell you dirt cheap.
Oh, and by the way, you got demoted.
Remember?
ARCX
Alcoboy.
The extreme financial pressure put on the public and staff at every org for the Ideal Org Scam has driven away hundreds of the most dedicated and supportive members. Add to that the upset caused by the lies and the misuse of the funds. Of course anyone that asked questions was threatened into silence and declared a suppressive person if they didn’t fall into line. Scientology is a criminal organization that is run by the biggest criminal of them all. P.S. Where is Shelly???
I was a staff member who is out but hiding under the radar.
St Louis Org SUCKS and the only ones left will go down with the ship.
I am shocked to hear about all of the deaths in St Louis
OSA staff member Ellen Maher Forney
Rudy Lee
Karen Lee
Rachel Wilkinson – suicide St Louis’ OSA and ex Sea Org Member: Ellen Maher Forney covered up – Rachjel Wilkinson hung herself in her garage after Matt Hanses kicked her out of the “cherch”
Robin Hanses
Fran Turner
Irving Ward – cancer after coming back from Flag
Edie Fields – was declared an SP when she refused to abandon her family after they watched the TRUTH RUNDOWN on National Television informing the public that David Miscavige beats and abuses Sea Org Staff.
Who is next in St Louis to reach the EP of dropping their body?
Cult believers would rather die than admit they made a mistake in joining Scientology. That shows just how insane it is.
That first sentence immediately reminded me of a line from an old Goon Show: “The prison was full of British Officers who had sworn to die rather than be captured.” In a strange way it reminded me of the rusted on $camology sheepbots.
Was Julie Forney a member of that org? I believe she is currently on staff at CCNashville and is married to Jesse Brinker.
Yes, Alcoboy, Julie Forney Brinker was OSA operative Ellen Maher-Forney’s daughter, Ethics Officer, Kevin Forney’s sister, Steve Forney’s daughter and is on staff and / or a member in Nashville. She is married to Jessie Brinker and they have a couple of little Scientologists who will be slaves too someday. I heard Kevin Forney is out of Scientology and engaged to a Wog. Can anyone confirm? He was a nice kid that was force fed the koolaid. I hope he is out.
Thanks for the info. I knew Julie when I was on staff at CCNashville. Very nice lady.
Wow. Has there been an article or anything written about this? This sounds like an especially heinous org.
Shocked, can you give us any idea how many active members and full-time staff STL still has left? Other readers seem curious about that as well.
And thanks to you and others who have provided inside information over the last couple of years.
If the building sells, will the org that raised the money to buy it get therir money back? Not a snowballs chance in hell.
The state I was living in at the time bought a new big building for the Ideal Org. A few of the local whales put in a ton of money to make it happen. Yet when they bought the building none of their names were on the Deed. The C of S was the owner of the building. So it is just a money grab from the C of S and more specifically, from David Miscavige. And if he sells it later, no one will be reimbursed for their money spent to secure the real estate. DM will get the proceeds and he doesn’t even have to show a money trail and he doesn’t give any transparency of where the money went. What a racket. And even more amazing is that none of the sheeple seem to have figured this out.
Amen to that!
Meaning that no truer statement could be said.
If Scientology management technology worked it would be copied and used.
Technology? They don’t know what technology is. The one they harp on is a cruel joke. And a not so good one.
Once upon a time I had a small business in So. Pasadena. A scientologist wanted me to buy a business management course utilizing LRH org. data/methods. I declined as to do this would take my time and leave no time left to do business. Sure glad I dodged that bullet.
Perhaps “Ideal” has a new definition under Miscavige? He loves money, but scorns people. Maybe for him “Ideal” is vast acres of empty real estate that he can decorate with gaudy abandon that only Liberace could rival.
More like the North Korean model of empty buildings gilded for show, and brutality directed against members of their own elite where the world can’t see.
LRH said ” There is a point where stupidity ends and TREASON begins”.
They obviously passed that point long ago
Like, right after LRH died.
On January 27, 1986 the space shuttle Challenger was accidentally destroyed during launch with all seven persons aboard. Also on this day the Church of Scientology made their official announcement that L. Ron Hubbard had died. In doing so they put forth a nonsense story that their founder had dropped his body and no mention was made of the fact that he’d suffered a stroke a week before.* The true believers were then shocked to discover that no one outside the cult gave a damn about that useless malingering REMF** piece of excrement. (Yes, I know I’m insulting excrement.) They’re particularly upset everyone was more concerned about the deaths of seven Wogs*** than with the passing of the most important being on the planet.**** L. Ron Hubbard will eventually be remembered as the vile man he actually was.
* I personally favor the pillow over the face as the actual cause of death.
** Rear Echelon Mother F***er.
*** Wog is the Scientologist term for a nonmember and the functional equivalent of the N-word.
**** Adolf Hitler used to think of himself that way too.
Exactly.
“it sure looks warm and inviting” NOT. It looks like a perfect example of Nazi brutalist concrete architecture. Fairly apt I would say.
Anybody notice the square and compasses above the front door?
Looks like a repurposed Masonic Lodge.
That is what it is. Door knobs have masonic symbols too.
I actually like the building but it needs a lot of work. Their plans are to build an addition over the parking lot with parking under it.
Really there are only about 30 active there including staff.
I had NOT. Good eye, Alcoboy!