The Jim Henson Company is not, in fact, selling its historic La Brea Avenue located studio lot to the Church of Scientology.
The lot started out as the Charlie Chaplin Studios in 1918, and went through a chain of ownership that included CBS, the comedian Red Skelton and A&M Records before the Jim Henson Company and the Henson family finally acquired it in 1999. It’s been in their hands ever since. Reports had been published in the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post and other outlets that the Henson family was selling the iconic property to the Church of Scientology, an assertion that has now been roundly denied by the Henson family.
A spokesperson for the Jim Henson family said: “In regards to recent rumors about the sale of the La Brea studio lot, the Henson family is not in any business dealings with the Church of Scientology, and that organization is not in consideration as a potential buyer of the property. It is still the family’s intention to move The Jim Henson Company to a new location it can share with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, but at this time the family is not in escrow with any buyer.”
The studio is still owned completely and wholly by the Henson family, who bought it originally for a reported $12.5 million. It currently serves as the headquarters for the Jim Henson Company, and was declared a Historic Cultural Monument by the City of Los Angeles in 1969. The Walt Disney Company only owns the Muppets franchise, not the real estate it issues from.
The Church of Scientology has made comment on the rumors swirling around the Henson lot matter. However, it seems that Scientology has not made and is not intending to make any moves in regards to the Henson property, a well placed Church source told Deadline. As far as they know, the Henson Company has never been approached by the Church or any of its representatives or lawyers in regards to the La Brea property.
It is easy to understand how the rumor that Scientology had its sights set on the historic studio real estate. The church, formed by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, currently has many real estate holdings in Los Angeles as well as elsewhere around the country and the world. Among the many properties the Church own in LA include the ex-Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. In 2011, and they purchased the KCET Studios in Los Feliz to use as their media center. They also own roughly a dozen former hotels and other properties on Hollywood Blvd, and elsewhere in LA, the Church has the 1929-built Château Élysée on Franklin Ave, now known as their Celebrity Center, which they bought in 1973. The organizations also owns various properties around the world and the nation, including 68 parcels of land in their main HQ of Clearwater, Fl. It is an impressive catalog of real estate, so it’s plausible that they’d try for the Henson lot.
Rest easy, Muppet fans. The homestead isn’t leaving Henson hands any time in the foreseeable future.
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I think the one trying to sell the company is Miss Piggy! As someone who performed with muppets, I should know!
But seriously, in regard to the *New York Post*:
“Overall we rate the New York Post on the far end of Right-Center Biased due to story selection that typically favors the Right and Mixed (borderline questionable) for factual reporting based on several failed fact checks.” –Media Bias/Fact Check
And by the way, before I started going by MB/FC, I checked over a dozen of its reports in regard to sources I knew well (both accurate and inaccurate). I agreed with Media Bias/Fact Check 100%. (Believe me, that’s very rare.)