Church of Scientology buys a bigger home in Nashville

The Church of Scientology reportedly will be expanding into the historic Fall School Business Center along Eighth Avenue South. Matthew Williams/The City Paper

The Church of Scientology is stepping up its visibility in Nashville.

Late last Thursday, the church purchased the Fall School Business Center along Eighth Avenue South for $6 million.

The property reportedly will become the new home of the church’s Celebrity Centre Nashville, which currently sits in a small house along Music Row.

The Fall School site has roughly 36,000-square-feet of space.

Church officials said more space was needed to meet growing demand. On average, officials said 2,000 Scientologists are served in the Southeast.

The property will have a bookstore and an information center. Additionally, the new location will house a café that will be open to the public, and rooms for courses, counseling and meetings that the church plans to make available to the public as well.

Fall School was built near the turn of the 20th century as an elementary school and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Eric Ericson bought the building in 1981 and his firm Ericson Marketing Communications occupied the building for years.

Ericson died in 1987 and eventually Gary Haynes, a former partner in the Ericson firm, bought the building and converted it into a business incubator.

In one respect, the building is coming full circle on the educational front. Scientology Celebrity Centres provide the educational services and spiritual training created by L. Ron Hubbard, the church’s founder. The centers are in major cities around the world.

The church, which has been in Nashville since 1985, focuses on the entertainment community. All centers follow Hubbard’s view that “a culture is only as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamed by artists.”

But celebrity doesn’t necessarily always mean the likes of Tom Cruise and John Travolta. Celebrity could be people who are leaders in their fields, politicians or industry captains who have influence with the surrounding community.

The church also seems to favor historic buildings.

Celebrity Centres International occupies a former hotel and apartment building in Hollywood, Calif., built in the 1920s. Originally named Chateau Elysée, the hotel had been a hangout for movie stars such as Cary Grant and Errol Flynn and where Clark Gable supposedly had his dalliance with Carol Lombard.

In the 1950s, the hotel became a retirement home for a Christian church. The Scientologists bought it in 1973 and rehabbed it.

Barry Smith, a broker with Eakin Partners, worked with the Scientologists for three years searching for a location.

According to church literature, Scientology is a practical, applied religion founded by Hubbard in 1952. Its methods are widely applied by people of all faiths, to live happier lives of greater self-respect and respect for others.

There are more than 7,700 churches, missions and groups in 170 countries, with more expansion in the last five years than the previous 50.

The Church of Scientology has recently opened new centers, missions and churches in Tampa, Fla.; Johannesburg, South Africa; San Francisco, San Jose and Los Gatos, Calif.; New York City and Buffalo, N.Y.; Madrid, Spain; London and Berlin.