Retailer bids $47.5M for Crystal Cathedral

GARDEN GROVE, Calif., Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Hobby Lobby, an Oklahoma retailer, said it made a $47.5 million cash bid for the bankrupt Chrystal Cathedral complex in Southern California.

The bid, announced Thursday, is the fifth known official offer for the megachurch founded by the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, the Los Angeles Times said

The offer was tendered despite the church board's recent decision to rely on a faith-based donation effort to emerge from more than $50 million in debt. The Garden Grove church filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October.

If its bid is successful, Hobby Lobby said, it will lease the property to The King's University, a Pentecostal college and seminary based in Van Nuys.

Under the proposed plan, the school could sublease any portion of the property. Officials with the university did not return the Times' request for comment.

Hobby Lobby has worked with the Crystal Cathedral before, the Times said. Last year, it bought 170-acre Rancho Capistrano from the struggling church for an undisclosed amount. Hobby Lobby announced this week it had donated Rancho Capistrano to the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif.

John Charles, a spokesman for the Crystal Cathedral, said he hadn't heard of the Hobby Lobby bid, nor did he know how the donation drive was going.

"I know we got a lot of positive comments and people offering to help, but I don't know what the response in dollars is right now," he said.