By Linda Collins
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — Will the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, also known as Jehovah’s Witnesses, retain their world headquarters in Brooklyn Heights?

Or will the organization close and sell its headquarters and administrative buildings at its prime hilltop and waterview location on Columbia Heights?

Those are the questions, as news of the acquisition of a large, 248-acre property in Ramapo, N.Y., has surfaced, first appearing in The Journal News of Rockland County Thursday.

Those possibilities have been neither confirmed or denied by spokespersons for the organization in Brooklyn Heights.

David Semonian, in the public affairs office, confirmed the Ramapo acquisition for the Eagle Thursday but could only say, “We are proposing to move certain administrative functions from Brooklyn to this location. However, at this point, it is far too early to commit to any specific offices.�

Semonian also provided the following written statement: “A primary objective for Watchtower in acquiring additional property is to locate a complex that would be in closer proximity to their facilities in Shawangunk and Patterson.�

Reached by phone Thursday, another spokesperson, Richard Devine, who is in charge of real property for the organization, also said, “It is so tentative at this point in the process it’s impossible to say.�

That process involves approvals at various levels for what is proposed in Ramapo, according to Devine, including dealing with zoning issues and obtaining other local community approvals, like a religious-use tax exemption.

Currently, the Ramapo property is zoned for residential, according to Devine.

“We have had the property for about a month, and we have submitted a plan to the town council for a Watchtower Administrative Complex,� he explained. “It will be a live-in and work complex similar to what we have in Brooklyn Heights so there will be both residential and office space. Everyone who is assigned there will live there.�

Devine said that the plan the organization submitted sets a maximum of about 850 volunteer workers to be onsite. There are currently 1,500 volunteer workers at the Brooklyn Heights headquarters, which would leave about 650 here, if the plan goes forward.

According to The Journal News article by James Walsh, the seller was Lorterdan Properties which planned “an active-senior development� on the site. The Watchtower plan “would disturb about 50 percent less of the property than Lorterdan intended and would have less of an impact on traffic because residents would work there,� Walsh wrote.

The $11.5 million sale price reported in The Journal News “is probably right,� said Devine Thursday. “I’m sure it’s a matter of public record.�

Devine also clarified the actual size of the Ramapo site: “It’s a 248-acre site, yes, but there’s also, along with that, a portion of property that is designated a perpetual conservation space, bringing the total size to 291 acres,� he said, adding that the Witnesses will maintain the conservation space.

Even if all approvals fall into place in Ramapo, there’s still a matter of the current state of the real estate market nationwide.

“We have several smaller buildings [in Brooklyn Heights] we have yet to sell,� Devine said.

As previously reported in the Eagle, the Bossert Hotel on Montague Street was going to be acquired by Robert Levine, president and CEO of RAL Companies & Affiliates, and developer of the former Watchtower shipping complex at 360 Furman, but he backed out of the deal.

The other buildings still on the market are at 165, 161 and 183 Columbia Heights, 105 Willow St. and 34 Orange St., all residential buildings that are now vacant except for some tenants that pre-existed Watchtower ownership.

As regularly chronicled in this newspaper, the religious organization has been reorganizing and consolidating a number of its operations in Brooklyn and transferring some to Walkill, N.Y., since 2004, when the printing and shipping operations were moved.

“Those adjustments resulted in a decrease in our Brooklyn staff, reducing our need for residential space,� Semonian said at the time.

Like the 12-story, 960,000-square-foot 360 Furman building, the world headquarters and administrative offices at 25 and 30 Columbia Heights are also massive buildings — they are 13 and 10 stories, respectively, and 304,650 and 402,300 square feet.

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