Two years after Visitation Academy closed its doors, the school and attached monastery are set to be sold to developers for more than $42 million in a deal locals say was kept secret until the last minute.
The Attorney General’s office last week approved the sale of the 7.5-acre campus from the nonprofit Sisters of the Visitation of Brooklyn to a group of real estate developers and investors, likely setting the stage for a large-scale redevelopment.
The buyer, recently-founded 1137 91 LLC, is co-owned by Stephen P. Palmese, CEO of private equity group Integritas Capital and several members of investment and development firm Heights Advisors — including co-founder Rachel Foster and her sons Daniel and Matthew Kodsi.
They have not yet revealed their plans for the property, and no permits have been filed. The property is “under contract” to be sold, according to The Tablet, but the contract has not been finalized. Neither Integritas or Heights Advisors replied to request for comment.
Both companies have backed and developed large new construction and adaptive reuse projects across New York City and down the East Coast.
In 2014, after the Brooklyn Diocese closed the historic Church of St. Ignatius in Crown Heights, Heights Advisors razed the building to make way for condominiums, though the project was later converted to a homeless shelter with affordable housing. Last year, Integritas granted a $125 million construction loan for a massive office-to-residential conversion project in Dumbo. In January, the company lent $25.3 million to a developer planning to build a 27-story tower that will incorporate a landmarked church in Fort Greene.
Integritas loaned more than $25 million to the developer behind a a tower that will rise out of a historic church in Fort Greene. Rendering by FXCollaborative and ADP Architects via LPC
Brooklyn Visitation Monastery and Visitation Academy were founded in 1855 and served generations of Bay Ridgeites.
By 2024, there were only two nuns left in the monastery. Rules laid out by the Holy See require an “ad-hoc” committee to examine the long-term prospects of dwindling religious orders, The Tablet reported at the time, and that committee made the decision to shutter the monastery and the school.
Visitation Academy, which had around 100 students at the time, shuttered permanently in the summer of 2024, while the nuns remained at the monastery for a while longer. The website for the Brooklyn Visitation Monastery now instructs visitors to reach out to the Visitation Monastery in Rockville, Virginia.
The closure shocked Bay Ridgeites, and local leaders immediately vowed to work closely with the Sisters to ensure the property continued to serve the community.
And they tried, said Council Member Kayla Santosuosso. At the time, she was working in then-Council Member Justin Brannan’s office, and they made “multiple” attempts to reach out to the Sisters and the seller’s agent, to no avail. Early on there were interested parties who hoped to make an offer on the property, she said — including Xaverian High School, which she felt would have been a “great fit” for the nabe.
When Santosuosso took office earlier this year, Brannan tried to encourage the Sisters to work with her.
Mother Susan Marie of the Visitation Monastery during a farewell service and tour in 2024. File photo by Arthur de Gaeta
“Just a real refusal to engage, no interest to talk with us, and to me that implies that they wanted to slip this under the radar,” she said. “ … Yes, I’m an elected official, but it’s not out of any sort of deference that I want them to come to me. It’s because I’m supposed to represent the interests of the people that live here. So when you’re boxing me out, you’re boxing everybody else out too.”
Santosuosso hadn’t been told anything about the sale until it made headlines last week, she said. Documents show that the Visitation Sisters entered into a contract of sale with 1137 91 LLC in April.
The Sisters and their agent, Frank Dalicandro, spearheaded the effort of trying to find a buyer, Santosuosso said, but it seemed that final decisions were approved by Vatican officials.
Though the Diocese of Brooklyn was involved in operating Visitation Academy, it never owned the property, a spokesperson confirmed, and will not receive any revenue from the sale.
Many locals are concerned that if housing is built on the site, it will be out of scale with the neighborhood and unaffordable to Bay Ridgeites, and will result in the loss of the historic structures, Santosuosso said.
Josephine Beckmann, district manager for Community Board 10, said the office has fielded lots of phone calls about the site since the sale was approved.
“It’s still so early and preliminary that there is a lot of concern out there about the site,” she said. “It’s a beautiful open space that’s been enjoyed by generations of students there at Visitation, and those who worshipped there. We’ve heard from the immediate neighbors, we’ve heard from Bay Ridgeites just concerned about what the possibilities of development are on the site.”
But, she noted, it’s all speculation so far. The board hasn’t heard from the developer yet — which Beckmann noted isn’t unusual, though a sale of this scale is “unprecedented” in Bay Ridge — and doesn’t know what they might have planned.
“I would say most residents would like to see development that is certainly contextual, fulfills needs of the district, and would like to be part of the conversation and certainly provide input to the developer,” she said.
In 2024, as part of City of Yes, Brannan got Visitation removed from the Special Bay Ridge District, which includes restrictions on height and Floor Area Ratio to “preserve the character” of the area. Still, the property is currently zoned for low-density one and two-family residential units, and would need to be rezoned for larger projects.
Usually, those rezonings require approval from the City Council, which tends to follow the lead of the council member who represents the district where a project is proposed — in this case, Santosuosso.
But, last year, New Yorkers voted to approve a charter amendment that will fast-track certain rezoning applications that include affordable housing in the 12 city districts that have produced the smallest amount of affordable housing in the past five years.
“Come January, following the ballot proposals, there is this likelihood that Community District 10 will be designated as one of the 12 districts that will undergo fast-track,” Beckmann said. “We don’t have that confirmed yet, but that certainly is another concern.”
A rezoning for Visitation would likely pass by the City Council, Santosuosso said, and will undergo a Community Board and Borough President review, then head right to the City Planning Commission.
Some locals worry the historic buildings will be razed. File photo by Arthur de Gaeta
“We think this is part of what their strategy was, which again, was evasive and doesn’t take into account what the community wants and needs,” Santosuosso said.
Locals have previously tried to get the property landmarked — the Historic Districts Council was active in the most recent effort, Beckmann said — but the process has not been completed. The Landmarks Preservation Commission has previously determined that parts of the property are eligible to be landmarked, Santosuosso said, but not all of it.
Santosuosso said her office has asked the LPC to “take another look.” Landmark status wouldn’t stop the property from being sold — and wouldn’t preserve all of the buildings — but might save some of the historic structures.
“At the end of the day, private equity is going to move how private equity is going to move, private transactions are private transactions,” Santosuosso said. “But you know, the nuns and the order had the opportunity to keep this a property that continued to serve an educational or religious mission. They had the opportunity to protect some of the lands. They had the opportunity to protect some of the structure by engaging with buyers who actually cared, and who were rooted in this community, and it was greed that won out.”