Alleged Cult that Bought Nelly’s House Eyes 284-Acre Boeing Campus

Published February 28, 2023 By admin with Comments 1

The alleged cult that in 2021 bought a Wildwood mansion from Nelly is now trying to buy a 284-acre property in Florissant where Boeing used to operate its Leadership Center.

According to an individual familiar with the Kingdom of God Global Church’s business dealings, the organization is attempting to take out a $25 million loan in order to purchase the sprawling property, which until the fall of 2020 was used by Boeing for corporate retreats and training.

According to a brochure for the property on New Halls Ferry Road, the site contains dining and educational facilities, as well as conference rooms, classrooms and residential lodges.

Reached for comment, Joseph Busch, a preacher with the church whose name is on a loan application obtained by the RFT, said he would have to run the query by the church’s executive team. We never heard back.
The Kingdom of God Global Church currently owns nine properties in west St. Louis County, including the Wildwood mansion and a five-bed, nine-bath mansion in Chesterfield valued at $2 million.

Past local properties owned by the church have drawn scrutiny from neighbors, who have complained of large numbers of people living on site. At one property in Chesterfield, which the church has since sold, neighbors said that dozens of people were living in the home and working on site in what appeared to be a call center operation.

The church is led by 50-year-old David E. Taylor, who has boasted of raising people from the dead.

While the church owns millions of dollars worth of property in the St. Louis area, the Boeing property would be on another level entirely. A brochure advertises buildings totaling 300,000 square feet, including 204 private rooms as well as a cafeteria and dining facilities similar to those on college campuses. The property is adorned by a chateau and a carriage house adjacent to tennis and basketball courts. The structures are surrounded by five miles of hiking trails.

The Boeing property is about a 30-minute drive north of St. Louis at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The land once belonged to the wealthy Desloge family, whose roots in Missouri go back more than two centuries.

Boeing acquired the property when it merged with fellow aerospace giant McDonnell Douglas in 1997. The Boeing Leadership Center opened in 1999.

One California facilities manager told an industry publication in 2000 that the campus was a “velvet prison,” because while the amenities were top-notch, almost all the Boeing employees who went there for training and corporate retreats didn’t have a car and there was nowhere else to walk to.

Content retrieved from: https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/alleged-cult-that-bought-nellys-house-eyes-284-acre-boeing-campus-39540009.