Inside the Egyptian-themed NYC compound that’s home to ‘extremist’ UFO cult — and could be yours for $6M
New York Post/August 30, 2024
By Dorian Geiger
This real estate listing is out of this world.
An odd Brooklyn building that’s painted yellow and covered in ancient Egyptian motifs has hit the market — but it has a dark history as the home of a UFO-believing cult whose hateful leader has claimed he’s god from outer space.
The eye-catching temple and attached bookstore at the corner of Bushwick Avenue and Hart Street continues to function as a community center, gathering space and place of worship for the Nuwaubian Nation, who also call themselves Sabaeans.
“But we’re selling [the properties] as a bundle, we’re asking $5 to 6 million for both.”
The man, identified as Thomas Smith, said he was acting as a middleman between potential buyers and the Nuwaubian Nation, which has called the mysterious complex home for more than 40 years.
The 5,000-square-foot golden temple sits next to a three-story apartment complex and “All Eyes on Egipt” bookstore – which is also owned by the mystics under the LLC Holy Trinity Seed Ministries, according to property records.
The sale of the unofficial neighborhood landmark would mark a new chapter for the Nuwaubian Nation – described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “hate group” which mixes “Black supremacist ideas with worship of the Egyptians and their pyramids, a belief in UFOs and various conspiracies related to the Illuminati and the Bilderbergers.”
At its peak in the 1970s and ‘80s, the group owned dozens of properties on adjacent streets in Bushwick, including 20 apartment buildings that housed 500 people as well as bookstores, a clothing store and a supermarket, according to the SPLC.
The compound at 717 and 719 Bushwick Ave. serves as the final vestige of the movement, according to property records.
The one-story temple itself has since been used as a gathering place for meetings and events, though several complaints to the city Department of Buildings dating back to 2013 allege the owners didn’t have a proper occupancy permit to do so.
A building manager at the temple, who identified himself as 37-year-old Senab York – the son of Nuwaubian Nation leader Malachi Z. York, formerly Dwight York — said it was “sad” to think the property could be sold and possibly knocked down and turned into an upscale condos like others popping up on Bushwick Avenue.
“A lot of people, they love taking pictures of this building,” he said. “They love it. People love Egypt…To see it in Bushwick, like, ‘this came out of nowhere.'”
The Nuwaubian Nation was helmed around 1970 by the senior York, who reportedly forced followers to give up their possessions and work for free – and those who did not meet their quotas were beaten, according to the SPLC. York also chose his followers’ spouses, “mating” them at his discretion.
The building manager at 717 Bushwick Ave., who identified himself as Senab York, the cult founder's son.
“It’s about everything, from extraterrestrials to ancient civilizations to DNA to dark matter — it’s a little bit of everything… it’s a lot to unpack,” Senab York told The Post of his father’s teachings.
The cult leader and many of his followers eventually relocated to Putnam County, Georgia, where he built a massive compound dubbed Tama-Re consisting of two pyramids for $975,000 – in anticipation of a UFO slated to “visit Earth in 2003 and to take with it 144,000 chosen people,” according to news reports.
But the senior York was behind bars when the supposed time came.
Federal authorities raided the Georgia compound in 2002, and York was later sentenced to over 130 years in federal prison on multiple racketeering and child molestation convictions.
He’s currently living out his days in the ADX Florence supermax prison, which houses other infamous inmates such as Mexican drug lord and former Sinaloa Cartel leader El Chapo.
Their 79-year-old leader’s plight hasn’t stopped his followers in Bushwick from erecting a sign atop the bookstore building calling on the Republic of Liberia to repatriate York.
Senab York described his father as a “person with high charisma,” and both a “funny” and “generous” leader who was hugely community-oriented and whom he credited for protecting the neighborhood when crime was rampant in ‘70s and ‘80s Bushwick.
York said he carries on his father’s civic legacy as the Nuwaubian Nation throws block parties, holds children’s events, partnered with the Shriners and took children to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and handed out backpacks for youngsters in the community.
He wouldn’t divulge on where the purported “hundreds” of Nuwaubian Nation followers in New York would be heading next.
United Sabaeans Worldwide Temple at 717 Bushwick Ave. in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
“There’s a lot of attachments,” he said. “I think even the community itself is so attached to this building. It’s almost like an archive building. This building has so much history besides us.”
Ronit Abraham, a broker for Compass Realty, told The Post that she estimated the bookstore would fetch up to $2 million in the market, as Bushwick Avenue continues to develop into a retail corridor. The sanctuary, at 719 Bushwick Ave., is classified as a “lodge” and could be developed into a variety of uses, including a concert hall or YMCA, she added.
“In addition to its current 5,000 square feet, the property also allows for an additional 9,000 square feet of development, providing even more flexibility for future use,” she said.
Smith, the go-between involved in the sale, noted there had been a lot of interest and “a lot of calls” inquiring about the two properties.
But he said the group wasn’t necessarily rushing to sell — and “what they’re doing is trying to collect offers … it’s a matter of having open options for the most part.”
Neighbors said the group hasn’t tried to recruit them into their religion, and similarly described community events for their members on the block and in the sanctuary — including barbecues, handing out turkeys on Thanksgiving and shooting off fireworks on the Fourth of July.
United Sabaeans Worldwide Temple at 717 Bushwick Ave. in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
“I’ve never once been bothered by them in the year we’ve been here,” said KK, 22, an after-school instructor who has lived on Judge Street for under a year. He said he was worried the buildings would be demolished and turned into a high-rise building.
“They built one [high rise] up the street over there a few months ago, and it totally killed a bunch of other stuff around here now.”
KK and his roommates said the only real problem they have is waking up to a giant picture of York on the sign demanding Liberia repatriate the convicted child sex predator.
“The billboard they have up does look directly into our windows, and we do stare at that when we wake up,” he said. “Other than that I can say I’ve never had any problems.”
Raina Bajpai, 55, an artist who has lived three houses down from the sanctuary on Judge Street for over two decades, described her neighbors as community minded, with the biggest problem being its sordid leader’s past.
She recalled stories from older residents about the cult owning the entire block back decades ago with armed guards and a movie theater.
“There are legends of them back in the 70s,” she said.
Bajpai said her chief complaint is that the Sabaeans have failed to properly care for the building, which has chipped paint and overgrown with weeds on the side.
“They’ve never taken care of the property. The sidewalk is broken. They’ll slap another coat of gold paint and they put up the Egyptian stuff when the rest is falling apart,” she said.
She was mixed on the possibility that her longtime neighbors would leave the block.
“I’d be happy if they sold it — it’s so dilapidated they haven’t taken care of it, plus Dr. York is not a hero of mine,” she said, but added “if it ended as a Foodtown, I think I’ll stick with Dr. York.”
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