While the $42 million sale is not final, locals question next steps and seek to landmark aspects of the 1855-built campus. <\/p>\n
Visitation Monastery has been a staple Bay Ridge location since its founding in 1855.\u00a0Located at 8902 Ridge Blvd.,\u00a0the 7.5-acre campus\u00a0had been\u00a0a pre-K-8th grade all-girls Catholic school since 1903. Its Renaissance Revival-style church stands out along with a 30-foot stone wall circling half of the block. Devout Catholics would spend the weekend on a retreat there, while\u00a0a small pond sat on Visitation’s grounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But now, those grounds\u00a0may be changing for good. Early last month, it was announced that Visitation had been sold for $42 million to\u00a0private equity firm\u00a0Integritas Capital<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0investment and development firm\u00a0Heights Advisors<\/a>.<\/p>\n This was\u00a0two years after its school permanently closed its doors, citing low enrollment and having only two nuns left in its monastery. News of the sale sent both shockwaves and dismay through\u00a0Bay Ridge.<\/p>\n “It’s the talk of the town,” said Community Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann. “I’m getting questions every day about what this means for future development.”<\/p>\n “It was a gut punch,” said former parent Jennifer C. “Bay Ridge is a small community.\u00a0It’s a shame and it’s sad.”<\/p>\n News of the acquisition has\u00a0jumpstarted\u00a0local\u00a0efforts to landmark Visitation Monastery’s noted buildings to protect them\u00a0from being\u00a0demolished and replaced by apartment buildings, like many other Brooklyn sites.<\/p>\n “It shouldn’t be razed to the ground and put in luxury high-rises,”\u00a0said Allegra Miccio, who attended Visitation from pre-K to 8th grade, graduating in 2009. “I don’t want to see big, bland, box condos that won’t serve families.”<\/p>\n Beckmann said Requests for Evaluation\u00a0were sent to the Landmark Preservation Commission\u00a0starting two years ago. In light of the sale, she mentioned giving LPC a nudge.\u00a0<\/p>\n The LPC’s\u00a0director of communications, Courtney Metakis, told BK Reader that\u00a0the research department staff evaluated the site and \u201cdetermined that the primary, street-facing portion of the building complex may merit consideration as a landmark,\u201d but that “further study was needed.”<\/p>\n Metakis also explained that an RFE is not an application. She said\u00a0if the\u00a0LPC determines that the landmark may merit consideration, that does not mean it will necessarily\u00a0be considered for designation.<\/p>\n City Councilmember Kayla Santosuosso told BK Reader that her office was “completely shut out” of the sale. Santosuosso\u00a0explained that\u00a0the sellers, the Sisters of Visitation, did not intend to turn the site over to the community, because of how they put their site up for sale.\u00a0<\/p>\n While landmarking the grounds will not be easy, it is not too late. Both Santosuosso and Beckmann want to contact the equity firm to discuss zoning, another issue surrounding the sale of Visitation.<\/p>\n Integritas Capital’s CEO declined to comment, except to say the sale is not final and that it is only under contract.<\/p>\n Rezoning and the need for affordable housing are another potential factor in Visitation’s future. Last year, former City Councilman Justin Brannan got Visitation removed from the Special Bay Ridge District<\/a>\u00a0as part of City of Yes<\/a>, maintaining\u00a0parts of Bay Ridge’s low-rise character of one-to-three family homes.<\/p>\n