20 Years On, Scientology Site Still Stalled

A former Westville department store remains fenced off, empty and rundown — 20 years after the Church of Scientology bought the property, five years after the church last won permission to convert the site into a religious hub, and one year after a city board found that the long-vacant building should stay off the tax rolls.

That’s the latest with 949 Whalley Ave.

This year marks the two-decade anniversary of the Church of Scientology’s purchase of the former Hallock’s furniture store property in September 2003 for $1.5 million. The building opened in the 1930s as a Masonic lodge.

For the past 20 years the prominent Westville building has sat empty under the ownership of a local chapter of a modern international religion founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, popularized by Hollywood celebrities like Tom Cruise and John Travolta, and sharply criticized by investigative journalists like Lawrence Wright.

According to the city’s online tax records, the church, which operates out of a rented commercial storefront up a block across the street, has not had to pay any property taxes on 949 Whalley for at least a decade. The property remains tax-exempt today despite dissent between the city’s tax assessor and the Board of Assessment Appeals. (Read more on that below.) The city last appraised the property as worth nearly $3 million.

A key reason why the church has been able to preserve the property’s tax-exempt status is that it has long promised to renovate and revive the vacant building into a center for worship and public outreach. 

“In any story you may write, please convey our dedication to restoring this landmark and others around the world for our parishioners and their communities,” Church of Scientology spokesperson Sonia Gobbini told the Independent in email comments provided for this article. ​“Our goal is restoration to magnificence.”

The City Plan Commission most recently re-awarded site plan approval for the church’s 949 Whalley renovation plans back in November 2018.

As part of that approval process, a church-hired project manager named Larry Nardecchia told the local land-use commissioners that the church planned to restore the masonry on the building, fill cracks, repair walls, install a new roof, and demolish and reconstruct a small extension in the rear of the building that would serve as a gym for church members.

All of the building permits pulled for that 2018-approved renovation work have since expired. The site plan is set to expire this November. Little if any progress on those building-improvement plans appear to have been made. 

Nardecchia declined to comment for this article.

In her email comments to the Independent, church spokesperson Gobbini said that ​“we take the restoration of historic properties, including New Haven, very seriously.”

“The new Church is designed to provide the full services of the Scientology religion to our parishioners and to offer facilities to other organizations dedicated to community betterment,” she said about 949 Whalley. 

“To serve the congregation and the community, the Church will include a Public Information Center with extensive multimedia displays describing all aspects of the religion, its Founder and our humanitarian programs. The Chapel will serve Scientologists for Sunday services and other congregational gatherings, and also be available for community-wide events.”

"Top-To-Bottom Construction" Required For "Restoration To Magnificence"

Why has it taken so long to fix up the property, if that is still what the church plans to do?

“The property requires top-to-bottom construction to return it to its former standing in the Westville Village Historic District,” Gobbini said of 949 Whalley. 

The roof demands repairs; additional structural supports are needed; the foundations must be retrofitted to provide a base for the building; all new utility services, including water and sewer lines and an entire electrical system, are needed. Fresh asphalt, retaining walls and a storm drainage system, Gobbini continued, all remain on the church’s to-do list.

While Gobbini expressed the church’s intent to move forward with the project, nobody from the church would respond directly to repeated inquiries from the Independent as to why no construction progress has been made for such a substantial period of time.

“We are excited to move forward with the project in New Haven and all necessary steps will be undertaken,” Gobbini responded after the Independent asked for clarity as to what exactly may have contributed to two decades’ worth of delays.

While 949 Whalley remains unoccupied, the church is renting out space up the road at 980 Whalley Ave. 

When the Independent last visited, an office secretary said the building is primarily used as classroom space where subscribers pay to attend courses teaching the principles of the new religious movement — and for group events, such as a yet-to-be-held birthday party in honor of Ron Hubbard, who would have turned 112 on March 13.

Elicker: "Limited Tools"

How exactly does city government view 949 Whalley? And what can and should the Elicker Administration do to hold the church accountable for maintaining the property and following through on plans to bring it back to life?

According to city spokesperson Lenny Speiller, the Livable City Initiative (LCI) — the city’s anti-blight, housing code enforcement, and neighborhood development agency — does not consider the property as blighted. ​“It’s vacant and fenced in, but there’s no visible dumping or graffiti,” Speiller said on behalf of LCI.

Because it’s not officially considered blighted, Speiller said, LCI does not assume responsibility for intervening in the church’s failed development of the building.

“The site is a strategic location on Whalley Avenue right in the heart of downtown Westville,” Mayor Justin Elicker told the Independent when asked what his administration can do to make sure this property is put to productive use. ​“Frustratingly, it has been vacant for decades and it’s really unfair to the residents and to the community, as this site could easily be activated for so many for good uses and purposes. Given its private property, the City unfortunately has limited tools at its disposal to force the property owner to act, but I would urge the owners to make good on their promises to use and activate this site or to sell to a new property owner who will.”

Also reached for comment for this article, City Plan Director Laura Brown said, ​“This is an essential parcel in the development of Westville Village, and its use will have implications for the future success of the district. My hope is that the owner intends to maintain this historic structure and support the significant investment we have seen in the Village over the past several years.”

The Church of Scientology has drawn attention for buying up properties around the state, securing tax-exemption and then leaving those buildings to rot. A similar situation in Philadelphia saw that city sue the Church of Scientology in 2013 for $8 million — for leaving a building empty just for six years, as opposed to 20. Read more here in the Tampa Bay Times about what cities like Clearwater, Florida, home to more expansive real estate takeovers by the Church of Scientology, are trying to do to prevent and respond to mass vacancy and stalled developments.

Gobbini’s email to the Independent for this article stated that ​“The Church is engaged in a massive international program to establish new Churches of Scientology in major cities and cultural centers around the world to bring our religion and social programs to greater numbers. The scope of this undertaking is unmatched in modern religious history. These new Churches reflect the fulfillment of Mr. Hubbard’s vision for the religion he founded. In all, we have established more than 70 of these new Ideal Churches and have many more underway.”

"Blighted For 20 Years"

One of 949 Whalley’s Westville neighbors, Shawn Nesmith, disagreed with the city’s assessment of the property while by the building on Tuesday morning.

“It’s a blight,” he said about the fenced-off former department store. ​“Tell them to get rid of that blighted property.”

Nesmith remembers when the building housed Hallock’s, though he said he was never a customer there. He said he works at the Amity Stop & Shop, and regularly sees people living outdoors, waving signs urging drivers-by to help the homeless. Therefore, Nesmith said, he’d like to see 949 Whalley repurposed as housing for the homeless. 

Westville Village Renaissance Alliance (WVRA) Executive Director Elizabeth Donius said that plenty of Westville residents have expressed dreams of what the historic property could become: A nightclub, a theater, a market or apartments.

“It’s a really cool building with parking! There’s endless imagination of what could be there that could add to the vibrancy of the Westville Village and to our growing footprint,” she said. ​“Anything is better than a property that’s been blighted for 20 years.”

Donius was one of few people who attended a 2018 public hearing regarding whether or not to, once again, award the church site plan approval. She and Board of Alders Majority Leader and Beaver Hills/Westville/Amity Alder Richard Furlow spoke out with concerns about the project, citing a lack of maintenance by the owners of the property as well as a dearth of community engagement.

Furlow did not respond to repeated requests for comment by the Independent for this article.

“The one thing I remember,” Donius said of that 2018 City Plan Commission meeting, ​“was saying that I didn’t believe that they’re going to build this.”

“I’m not surprised to say that five years later we have a chain linked fence that wasn’t there before, and if anything the building just looks worse.”

But Donius said that five years after City Plan commissioners unanimously supported the church’s plans for the third time in a row, she believes the stagnant property remains Westville’s ​“biggest economic development issue.”

“Because of the current owner it just feels like a brick wall to me,” Donius said. Previously stalled plans like the construction of apartments at 500 Blake Street or 50 Fitch have moved forward and become part of a recent display of development across the neighborhood. 

But the Church of Scientology is just ​“immovable,” Donius said. 

“It feels like a property owner who doesn’t have any intention of developing the property and had no intention of responding to pressure,” she said. 

In the winter, she stated that the stretch of sidewalk along 949 Whalley Ave. is often the only portion that goes unshoveled. 

“Any property owner with the type of resources the Church of Scientology has should be expected to [do] landscaping and manage the sidewalk,” she said. 

“I’d love to see the city flex whatever muscles they have” to take back the building and bring new life to the property, but she said she was unsure what power the city had to intervene other than urging the property owners to sell the space to another developer. 

At the very least, Donius said, ​“I do think the church should be paying taxes. I don’t think it would spur development, but we could at least be getting some money out of them.”

Tax Exemption Lost, Restored

Tax Assessor Alex Pullen told the Independent his office last reviewed — and, in fact, denied — the church’s tax-exempt status for this property in 2021 because his office ​“did not believe the property use for the criteria for exemption. The property has been vacant for a number of years with minimal work being completed.”

The city’s Board of Assessment Appeals, however, reinstated the property’s tax-exempt status in 2022 after the church contested Pullen’s findings. The city will next reconsider the property’s tax-exempt status in 2025. 

Pullen said the church could be eligible for tax-exemption due to its status as a house of religious worship or as a nonprofit. 

Cordalie Benoit, who chaired the Board of Assessment Appeals at the time of the 2022 vote reversing Pullen’s decision, said that she voted in support of the church’s petition because she believed in their sincere attempts to convert 949 Whalley into a place of worship. She said she believed tax-exemption would help them bring that vision to fruition.

“Twenty years ago they thought their numbers were growing,” she said of the Church of Scientology. ​“The numbers were not growing.”

“They have always wanted it to be their place of worship but they haven’t had enough critical mass, not only in the neighborhood of Westville, but in Greater New Haven and all the way to other counties. … They bought it totally for furtherance of their nonprofit status,” she added, rather than to sell the property at a profit down the line.

“It’s a judgement call,” she said of her own role on the Board of Assessment Appeals. ​“The assessor uses an algorithm to assess properties. They don’t talk to the landlord or the homeowner or the neighbor.”

This wasn’t the first time the city sought to revoke the church’s tax-exempt status for 949 Whalley. The city did just that in 2008 after finding that no construction was taking place on site, Pullen said. A foreclosure motion was even filed against the church in 2010, but that suit closed in 2012, according to the New Haven Register and Yale Daily News.