Church spars with S.C. county about fixing up old PTL site

FORT MILL, S.C. The owners of an incomplete Fort Mill high-rise are threatening to sue York County if county leaders dont accept their proposal for fixing up the towers exterior and completing renovations.

MorningStar Ministries, which since 2007 has had plans to renovate the 21-story tower into a spiritual retirement community, will present the proposal to York County Council on Monday.

If the county rejects their offer, MorningStar Ministries will sue the county for financial damages related to the project, Rick Joyner, the ministrys CEO and spiritual leader, said Thursday at a news conference in Fort Mill.

But the ministry hopes a lawsuit is unnecessary, Joyner said, and that a new agreement will include a new timeline for completing renovations on the tower.

We have no intentions of ever giving up on this project, he said.

It will take about three years to complete the $35 million tower, including getting the deposits from prospective residents needed to secure a construction loan, and getting the lights on and people in there, Joyner said.

But the ministry thinks the countys demand to immediately fix the exterior to near completion is unreasonable. That would cost $6 million, he said, and the ministry would need to start over given that it lost financial backers.

Joyner blamed the county for spreading false information about the ministry regarding its agreement with the county on how and when the tower would be renovated. That information sabotaged the project, grinding it to a halt, he said.

Built by former televangelist and PTL founder Jim Bakker, the tower was part of Bakker's vision for the Christian vacation destination Heritage USA. The project fell apart and the tower was left incomplete in the late 1980s when Bakker left amid a scandal.

Since 2004 MorningStar has been restoring buildings on the property, including the nearby PTL hotel, where the ministry has been renovating some units. The group runs the MorningStar Fellowship Church, camps, a school and a conference center at the former Heritage USA site off U.S. 21 near the state line.

See original here:
Church spars with S.C. county about fixing up old PTL site