HIGHER PURPOSE:Bronx Beep Ruben Diaz Jr. (above) called for proposals for the Kingsbridge Armory. Creflo Dollar has answered. (WireImage)
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God save us!
Charismatic TV evangelist Creflo Dollar — who takes his “prosperity theology” to heart and once drove a Rolls-Royce — has offered to answer the city’s prayers for a new use for the long-dormant Kingsbridge Armory in The Bronx.
The Atlanta-based theologian made a pitch to take over the enormous building and turn it into an arena and multipurpose facility — and he’d pay for the development with his own financing, sources told The Post. Dollar’s offer was prompted by a yearlong study of the armory by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., who helped to scuttle the last proposal put together by the Bloomberg administration to turn it into a retail and entertainment center.
Dollar “wants to turn it into a multi-use facility,” one source said. “He’s got a huge following and needs an arena.”
But the source cautioned, “You’d be handing over a public property to a religious institution. That would require a lot of discussion.”
Another source said that Dollar — who travels the nation in a Gulfstream jet and packs Madison Square Garden for weekend-long revivals — has virtually no chance of taking over the city-owned facility, even though his ministries are taking in $65 million a year.
“How many jobs would a church create?” the source asked.
Criticized for his focus on praying for prosperity, Dollar was one of six evangelists hauled before a US Senate committee in 2007 to face questions about their tax status.
The preacher has defended his luxury lifestyle, saying his Rolls-Royce was a gift of thanks from his parishioners. Dollar, who owns a $2.5 million apartment in the Time Warner Building, told ABC News in 2007 that he sold the car.
He already has an 8,500-seat auditorium in Atlanta, but a venture in The Bronx would create a base for a larger market in a building that could be used as a convention center. Officials have been trying since the 1990s to figure out what to do with Kingsbridge, a 5-acre site that is one of the largest armories in the nation.
In 2009, an attempt by The Related Companies to build a $310 million retail development was blocked by elected officials who demanded that businesses in the new space be required to pay a “living wage” of at least $10 an hour plus benefits.
Mayor Bloomberg ended up pulling the entire deal.
Diaz, one of the mayor’s chief critics at the time, proceeded to appoint a 12-member task force in March 2010 to work with NYU in suggesting alternative uses.
“There were a million ideas, all interesting,” reported task-force member Jack Kittle, political director of District Council 9 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.
“I don’t know how many would work in the real world.”
Kittle said that Dollar was the only would-be developer to offer to shoulder the substantial rebuilding costs.