Blue Eye Becomes Home For Bakker

Blue Eye, Mo., population 130, is undergoing big changes.

A huge new development and a resident with some notoriety have landed in the tiny burg.

Morningside is a residential and commercial development that will be home to the “Jim Bakker TV Show,” a program broadcast on DISH Network and DirecTV, as well as several regional stations.

The televangelist, whose 1980s broadcasting empire brought in many millions of dollars before his subsequent downfall, conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges and prison stay, hosts the show.

Veeda Smith, a spokeswoman for the development, said about 75 percent of the residential units — condos, townhouses and homes that range from $87,000 to $200,000 — have been sold.

Morningside is the vision of Branson hotel developers Jerry and Dee Crawford. It will also feature retail outlets and restaurant space, Smith said.

Though the development has a definite Christian leaning, “everyone’s welcome,” Smith said. “It’s a beautiful area of the Ozarks.”

Eventually, Morningside will be the site of more than 1,700 residential units, according to a press release.

Bakker still owes the Internal Revenue Service more than $6 million in back taxes and penalties, according to recent St. Louis Post Dispatch story.

Bakker and his wife Lori Bakker are in the process of moving to a unit at Morningside.