Renting Out Righteousness: What the Woodgrove Apartments Say About Watchtower's Real Estate Game

This is just a first, quick draft of what I hope will become a more detailed article. I’ve gathered quite a bit of information on this subject over time, but decided to go ahead and publish an early version after someone mentioned the Woodgrove complex on Reddit and several people encouraged me to share what I knew.

One of the common refrains you’ll hear as a Jehovah’s Witness is that apostates are always spreading lies and half-truths. But the literature rarely, if ever, provides examples of these supposed lies. Since waking up, I’ve come across a few misrepresentations here and there. But outright lies? Hardly. If anything, what I dismissed as exaggeration often turned out to be true or even worse than expected.

A claim that occasionally circulates even among active Witnesses is that the organization operates like a real estate business. At first, it sounds like an overstatement. After all, the organization has to build Kingdom Halls, Assembly Halls, and Bethel facilities. That’s real estate, sure, but all of it seems tied directly to “Kingdom interests.” So it’s easy to assume that critics are just misinterpreting what they see.

But let’s take a closer look.

In 2021, a luxury apartment complex called Woodgrove at Sterlington was quietly acquired by an LLC named Sterlington Holdings. The property, located at 950 Woodmont Lane in Sloatsburg, New York, is just a few minutes from the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ future Ramapo audio/video production center. It features 384 high-end rental units, marketed with terms like "resort-style amenities" and "modern luxury" (woodgroveatsterlington.com).

According to publicly available listings on sites like Apartments.com and Greystar, monthly rent for these units ranges from around $2,800 to over $3,500. If we conservatively estimate an average rent of $3,000 per unit, the complex has the potential to generate approximately $13.8 million in gross annual revenue (384 units × $3,000 × 12 months). Even accounting for the fact that a portion of units are allocated to Ramapo construction volunteers, this still represents a multi-million-dollar revenue stream that is largely unpublicized within the organization’s official communications.

It’s also worth noting that property management has been outsourced to Greystar, a major third-party company that oversees everything from tenant screening to rent collection. On the surface, this may seem like a practical decision as it allows the organization to benefit from professional management without having to deploy Bethel personnel. But it may also serve another purpose: distancing the organization from direct involvement in a for-profit enterprise. If the Watchtower were to manage the property itself while leasing to the public, it could complicate its religious nonprofit status. By outsourcing operations, the rental income may appear less like a business activity and more like a passive investment, reducing the risk of tax or legal scrutiny.

The sale was not made under the Watchtower name, but under the business entity Sterlington Holdings LLC, which had been renamed from Woodmont Ramapo LLC shortly before the purchase. Public business filings list the managers of this LLC as Daniel Rice, Michael Benham, and Michael Proszek. All three are connected to the organization’s real estate operations. Daniel J. Rice, in particular, is a licensed real estate broker, a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM), and is listed as the Director of Real Property for the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. (CCIM profile). He has also publicly represented Watchtower in multi-million dollar real estate deals in Brooklyn (B6 Advisors).

An interesting detail is that Jody Jedele, a recently appointed member of the Governing Body, is also a CCIM designee. This suggests that high-level real estate certification is not incidental but may be part of the organization's broader strategy to professionalize and centralize its property holdings under qualified internal leadership.

Just to be clear, the property isn’t technically owned by these individuals personally. It’s owned by the organization through the LLC, with Bethel real estate execs listed on the paperwork.

An interesting additional layer is the legal registration itself. The agent for service of process listed in the business filings for Sterlington Holdings is David Swanekamp, a chiropractor from New Jersey. In legal terms, an agent for service of process (or SOP) is the person designated to receive legal documents on behalf of a business entity. Things like lawsuits, subpoenas, or state filings. The fact that Swanekamp, rather than someone officially representing Watchtower’s legal department, is listed in this role reinforces the pattern of keeping the organization’s name and leadership at arm’s length from its business operations.

Swanekamp appears to be a Jehovah’s Witness elder, and while he may seem like a random inclusion, further digging shows his family has ties to construction companies. That could explain his involvement in the paperwork, perhaps as a trusted insider with experience relevant to the project. Also worth noting: chiropractors have a long, curious history with Jehovah’s Witnesses, often holding respected positions in the community. In any case, the decision to place someone like Swanekamp as the registered agent continues the trend of distancing the organization's corporate operations from its religious identity. This is common in real estate. But what’s uncommon — especially for a religious nonprofit — is how carefully this ownership is concealed. There is no mention of the acquisition on JW.org, no explanation given to the rank-and-file donors who fund the organization’s operations, and no visible connection between the luxury housing complex and the religious body that owns it.

I’m not opposed in principle to the idea of investing in real estate. In fact, if managed responsibly, using donated funds to acquire revenue-generating assets could be seen as sound financial stewardship. But the issue here is transparency. This isn’t just an internal housing arrangement for volunteers. The majority of units — those not allocated to Witness construction workers — are leased to the general public. And that raises several uncomfortable questions.

First, there’s the matter of accountability. If this is a strategic investment meant to support the Ramapo project, why not be open about it? Why not inform the donor base, or at least the congregation elders, about how funds are being deployed?

Second, and more troubling, is the double standard. Now, some might think this sounds like nitpicking. But when we’re talking about an organization that claims to be God’s sole channel on earth and that is holding its members to strict moral standards in every corner of their personal lives, then I think it’s fair to examine these matters closely. This is just my personal perspective, but if you’re going to preach moral purity and spiritual accountability, then scrutiny of your financial and business conduct comes with the territory.

Jehovah’s Witnesses can get into serious trouble for who they allow to live under their roof. Let a romantic partner sleep over without being married? That could lead to judicial action. Allow a disfellowshipped relative or someone in a same-sex relationship to stay with you? That might prompt a visit from the elders. But when it comes to renting out luxury apartments, none of those restrictions apply — because the tenants aren’t Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In principle, the organization is renting to whoever qualifies financially. Smokers, unmarried couples, LGBTQ+ individuals — people who would be considered morally “unfit” within the religion — are now tenants in a Watchtower-owned building. And that rent? It goes right back to the organization.

You can’t preach strict moral standards and then ignore them when money’s involved.

Now, to be absolutely clear, I fully understand that landlords are not allowed to discriminate against prospective tenants, and rightly so. This is how the law should work, and it protects everyone. From a legal standpoint, it makes total sense that the organization rents out to anyone who qualifies. But what’s striking is how this sits in contrast to what is expected of regular Jehovah’s Witnesses. Many would likely feel deeply uncomfortable knowing that the organization is collecting rent from tenants who are living in ways that would get a baptized Witness counselled — or worse.

And yet it seems to fly under the radar. Because money is involved, it’s somehow acceptable. Meanwhile, if a Witness were to rent part of their home to an unmarried couple or host someone disfellowshipped, it might not automatically result in judicial action, but depending on the circumstances, it could raise eyebrows in the congregation. More often, issues arise when Witnesses accommodate or lodge family members whose conduct doesn’t align with organizational expectations. In some cases, they might receive counsel or be viewed with suspicion.

Now, that might sound like an exaggeration — and to be fair, most individual Witness landlords probably rent to whoever qualifies without incident. Still, there have been extreme cases that show how far some take it. One example often cited is that of a Jehovah’s Witness-owned bakery that refused to sell a birthday cake. So while not every situation escalates, the underlying pressure to uphold perceived moral standards is real.

There’s a spectrum between general practice and rare enforcement, but the key difference here is that when the organization itself is involved, the rules seem to quietly shift. The standards shift when it’s the organization making the decision.

Now, to be fair, some of this is speculative. I don’t have access to the private lease agreements or a full list of tenants. However, local reporting has indicated that only a portion of the complex — specifically, 7 out of the 16 buildings — was originally planned for housing volunteers involved in the Ramapo construction project. That would amount to roughly 168 out of 384 units. In practice, though, it appears that delays in the Ramapo project led the organization to rent out many of those volunteer-reserved units to the general public instead. As a result, the actual number of units currently used for internal housing is likely well below 168, making the majority of the complex function as a standard commercial rental property. I still can’t speak to the oversight mechanisms in place, but the majority of the complex appears to function as a regular commercial rental property. But the public-facing reality is this: a religious organization known for imposing some of the strictest moral codes in modern Christianity is now operating a commercial housing complex that does not reflect those same standards.

And we haven’t even touched on the branding. The Woodgrove complex is marketed explicitly as a luxury development — with promotional materials emphasizing resort-style amenities, stylish finishes, and upscale living. That’s ironic, to say the least, for a group that consistently warns against materialism and urges its members to live modest, simple lives focused on spiritual goals. The message to individual Witnesses is to avoid pursuing a comfortable or status-oriented lifestyle, while the organization itself profits from promoting just that.

And that’s not all. This isn’t the only property like this.

There is another apartment complex at 227 Ironwood Drive in Tuxedo, New York — also close to Watchtower’s Warwick headquarters — that was purchased by the organization in 2014 for $2.4 million. It is listed on public rental sites such as Apartments.com and is known to be rented out to non-Witness tenants.

In Oslo, Norway, a residential building built adjacent to a Kingdom Hall also appears to be under Watchtower ownership and is similarly rented out to the public. While this may be less widely known internationally, details about the property are well known to many Witnesses in Norway. In fact, the YouTube channel Goatlike Personality has covered this complex in detail. Those interested can find a full video breakdown on his channel. This model of mixing religious facilities with income-generating real estate is becoming more noticeable.

A similar pattern is visible in the new Bethel project in Bologna, Italy, where residential towers are being built or renovated for mixed use. Reports indicate that some of these units will be occupied by non-Witnesses, reinforcing the organization's willingness to integrate secular tenants into properties traditionally viewed as religious campuses.

Even historically, this isn't entirely new. In Brooklyn, New York, buildings like the residential towers near the old Watchtower headquarters, and especially the Hotel Bossert, were used in part to house some non-Witness tenants. The organization has long shown a practical, if quietly executed, strategy of blending religious and commercial real estate interests.

The pattern is emerging. The Watchtower organization is not just building places of worship or volunteer housing. It is strategically acquiring, managing, and renting commercial real estate, often with little to no disclosure to the people whose donations make it all possible.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with owning property. But if you claim to be a spiritual paradise that is untainted by the corruption and compromises of “the world”, then the bar is higher. Hiding financial activities behind LLCs, outsourcing management to companies like Greystar, and applying different standards depending on whether it’s a baptized member or a paying tenant? That’s not righteousness but corporate behaviour with a religious mask.

If you’re going to call out individual Jehovah’s Witnesses for small acts of compromise, then surely it’s time to ask who’s holding the organization itself accountable.

In the Bible, one of the qualifications for someone to serve as an elder is to have what Jehovah’s Witnesses call "freeness of speech", meaning to be above reproach, transparent, and trustworthy. That principle isn’t just for individuals. It should apply to any organization that claims to represent divine authority. When the Watchtower engages in large-scale real estate ventures, uses layered LLCs, and outsources operations to avoid scrutiny, it undermines the very moral clarity it demands from its members.

Freeness of speech isn’t just about having the right words. It’s about acting in a way that requires no explanation, no concealment, and no distancing from one's own actions. If the organization truly has nothing to hide, it should act like it.