page_title: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
section_title: Brooklyn property sales
hierarchical_section_title: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania / Property ownership / United States / Brooklyn property sales
caption_attribution_description: Dansk: Hovedkontor af Vagttårnets Bibel og Traktat Selskab, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. English: World headquarters of the Watch Tower Bible &amp; Tract Society of Pennsylvania, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. Deutsch: Weltzentrale der Wachtturm Bibel- und Traktat-Gesellschaft, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. Italiano: Sede centrale mondiale della Società Torre di Guardia, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. Nederlands: 1Hoofdkantoor van het Wachttoren-, Bijbel- en Traktaatgenootschap van Pennsylvania, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. Subtly modified by Fiorellino with the permission of the author.
context_page_description: The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania is a non-stock, not-for-profit organization headquartered in Warwick, New York. It is the main legal entity used worldwide by Jehovah's Witnesses to direct, administer and disseminate doctrines for the group and is often referred to by members of the denomination simply as "the Society". It is the parent organization of a number of Watch Tower subsidiaries, including the Watchtower Society of New York and International Bible Students Association. The number of voting shareholders of the corporation is limited to between 300 and 500 "mature, active and faithful" male Jehovah's Witnesses. About 5800 Jehovah's Witnesses provide voluntary unpaid labour, as members of a religious order, in three large Watch Tower Society facilities in New York; nearly 15,000 other members of the order work at the Watch Tower Society's other facilities worldwide.
  The organization was formed in 1881 as Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society for the purpose of distributing religious tracts. The society was incorporated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on December 15, 1884. In 1896, the society was renamed Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
context_section_description: In 2004 the society began transferring its printing operations to its Wallkill factory complex. The move triggered the sale of a number of Brooklyn factory and residential properties including:
  360 Furman Street, sold in 2004 for $205 million;
  67 Livingston Street, (nicknamed the Sliver) sold in 2006 for $18.6 million.
  89 Hicks Street, sold in 2006 for $14 million.
  Standish Arms Hotel, 169 Columbia Heights, sold in 2007 for $50 million.
  183 Columbia Heights, bought in 1986, offered for sale in 2007 and sold in April 2012 for $6.6 million.
  161 Columbia Heights, bought in 1988, offered for sale in 2007 and sold in March 2012 for $3 million.
  165 Columbia Heights, offered for sale in 2007 and sold in January 2012 for $4.1 million.
  105 Willow Street, offered for sale in 2007 and sold in April 2012 for $3.3 million.
  34 Orange Street, offered for sale in 2007 and sold in November 2012 for $2,825,000.
  Bossert Hotel, 98 Montague Street, bought in 1983, offered for sale in 2008. sold in 2012 to a hotel developer, Rosewood Realty Group, for $81 million.
  50 Orange Street, bought in 1988, renovated to sell 2006, and sold in December 2011 for $7.1 million.
  67 Remsen Street, offered for sale in July 2012, and sold the same year for $3.25 million.
  Three adjoining properties (173 Front Street, 177 Front Street and 200 Water Street) sold together for 30.6 million in April 2013 to Urban Realty Partners.
  55 Furman Street, 400,000 sq. ft., is for sale as of June 2013.
  Five adjoining properties (175 Pearl Street, 55 Prospect Street, 81 Prospect Street, 117 Adams Street, and 77 Sands Street totaling 700,000 sq. ft.), offered for sale in September 2011, under contract as of July 2013 to a three company buy-out. A sixth building (90 Sands Street, about 500,000 sq. ft., a 505-room, 30-story building) in this sale will be released in 2017, after the scheduled completion of the Jehovah's Witnesses' new headquarters in Warwick, NY. The properties are under contract for $375 million at completion of the sale.
  Two private parking lots are for sale as of June 2013.
  124 Columbia Heights, bought in 1909, was sold in May 2016 to Florida Panthers' Vincent Viola for $105 million.
  In 2016, three more properties valued at an estimated $850 million to $1 billion—including the headquarters building—were put up for sale. The WatchTower Society reached a deal to sell the headquarters at Columbia Heights for $700 million. The Watch Tower Society sold the 25/30 Columbia Heights complex along with adjoining 50 and 58 Columbia Heights and 55 Furman Street sites on August 3, 2016 for $340 million.
  In 2011 the Watch Tower Society was reported to still own 34 properties in Brooklyn; a 2009 report calculated "a dozen or more" properties in the Brooklyn area. In a 2010 news report the Watch Tower Society said it was "not actively promoting" the sale of eight Brooklyn properties still on the market. Watch Tower Society's remaining nine unsold Brooklyn properties are 97, 107, and 119 Columbia Heights; 80 and 86 Willow Street; 21 Clark Street (Towers Hotel); parking lots at 67 Furman Street, 1 York Street and 85 Jay Street; and 90 Sands Street already arranged to sell in 2017. Many sold buildings are to be emptied by 2017. The Furman Street properties and parking lots are for sale currently as stated above.
caption: Former Watch Tower Society headquarters in Columbia Heights, Brooklyn.
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