INSP Gets Ready to Open CITY OF LIGHT World Headquarters in Lancaster Co., SC

INSP CEO David Cerullo & his wife Barbara


Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I wonder why INSP just couldn't rebuild the old PTL Complex out in Fort Mill vs. building an entire new complex in Lancaster Co., SC off of US 521 ? ? I mean, everything they they are wanting to build at their new complex was already at the old PTL site (i.e. hotels, TV studios, lots of land for future expansion, etc.).

But between INSP new World Headquarters opening up and the Billy Graham Museum, Charlotte is going to become a major Christian hub for ministry/evangelism/tourism (again; PTL Complex in its hey day being the 1st instance of this). I think only the SoCal/OC Area (where TBN is based out of and the many mega churches which are based there) could rival Charlotte as a main hub of Christian evangelism

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City of Light gains ground

HQ nearly complete, next phases to add dash of Disney to $150 million religious campus

Charlotte Business Journal - by Ken Elkins Staff Writer


For David Cerullo, the evolution of the 93-acre City of Light master plan marks the intersection of divine inspiration and Disney-style flourishes in a $150 million campus setting.

Cerullo, chief executive of The Inspirational Network Inc., is just a few weeks away from opening the religious broadcasting company's 132,000-square-foot headquarters building off U.S. Highway 521 in northern Lancaster County.

But he is already plotting a grand expansion that will include a residential subdivision, a women's conference center, a media training and production center -- and a structure called the Tabernacle, based on the designs described in The Bible for a sanctuary Moses built as he led the Israelites out of Egypt.

The result: The company's planned investment has grown $50 million since work began two years ago.

"It will be like a small Universal Studios," Cerullo said during a recent tour of the campus, which so far looks like any other high-end corporate address -- except for the 100-foot-tall steel cross that rises on the east side of the headquarters.

For local development officials, the greatest benefit is the promise that as many as 1,000 jobs will be coming to the headquarters in a county where unemployment hit 10.9% last month. Plus, other office jobs may follow the project to the Indian Land area, about 20 miles south of uptown Charlotte.

"We see it as an anchor headquarters development," says Keith Tunnell, executive director of the Lancaster County Economic Development Corp. City of Light received the promise of state incentives that will rebate workers' state taxes to The Inspirational Network when employment reaches 275 on campus.

Crews are completing the interior of the four-story world outreach center, where about 275 of the company's 375 employees will move in two months.

Cerullo -- who was a real estate developer when he and his televangelist father, Morris Cerullo, bought Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's PTL studio at Heritage USA in 1990 -- announced plans for City of Light in February 2006.

During a wide-ranging interview at the site, Cerullo sprinkled his remarks with scripture and religious anecdotes. "Christians do have a product to sell; it's free and its benefits are eternal," he said.

Cerullo envisions a 1,000-employee media training and production center that will also function as an attraction for Christians, although not as a tourist stop, he said.

The Inspirational Network facilities are being moved from Arrowood Road in south Charlotte. The network consists of production facilities of four cable networks; MediaComm, a Charlotte post-production studio; and a Christian ministry that receives 20,000 phone calls each month from worshippers seeking prayer. The cable TV networks, which include INSP channel, are received in 85 million homes by way of 5,000 cable companies.

The company expects to generate as much as $100 million in revenue this year, up 20% from $83 million in 2007.

Cerullo described the planned media production facility as a "factory and distribution center" for Christian programming.

Next up is an international prayer center and chapel to be completed at the campus entrance in November. Later comes a $50 million, 250,000-square-foot media center that will be connected to the headquarters by a tunnel and a pedestrian bridge.

In that facility, Cerullo will bring in international students to be trained in video storytelling.

A women's conference center that will accommodate gatherings of up to 500 is also on the agenda. At some point, a 1,500- to 2,500-seat amphitheater will be built overlooking a lake on the northern side of the headquarters building.

Initially, the nonprofit City of Light won't boost the Lancaster County tax rolls. "We're bringing a lot more benefit to the county than taxes," Cerullo said.

That will change when for-profit MediaComm eventually moves to the campus, followed by apartments, condos and single-family homes.

Cerullo would also like to see as many as 550 units of housing on the site