I have published many articles featuring Brooklyn Heights photos and reflections here at The New Leaf Journal. I posted a bit of news one month ago: St. Francis College had (apparently) completed the sale of its now-former Brooklyn Heights campus. My main purpose in sharing the post was to share my thoughts on the aesthetics of the campus building and the gloomy block on which it sits. However, I forgot to publish an update on the situation that I read in a March 20, 2023 article from at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle which was primarily about Saint Francis shutting down its athletics programs:
Things were on shaky grounds at the college several weeks ago when some 45 staffers were let go, the source said. ‘Apparently the college is in some financial problem,’ the source continued. ‘The building at 180 Remsen St., which was thought to have been sold, apparently has not – We hear that deal fell through.’
I thought about writing an article about the shutdown of the athletics programs (tough call, but probably the right call – see my article on athletics spending and the educational mission of colleges). But the note about the building sale seemed ominous. My first St. Francis report suddenly received an unusual number of views on April 4, so I decided to see if there was new news on the matter. Sure enough, it turns out that the St. Francis sale I wrote about on March 3 had in fact fallen through, but a new buyer has stepped in. From Ms. Celia Young at the Commercial Observer on April 4:
St. Francis College sold its Brooklyn Heights campus for $160 million to Rockrose Development, according to property records made public Monday. Rockrose’s all-cash deal for five buildings — 172 to 180 Remsen Street — closed Friday and the properties are debt-free … Izak Senbahar’s Alexico Group originally planned to buy the buildings for $200 million, but the deal never closed.
I am glad a new buyer stepped in, both for St. Francis and for that gloomy stretch of Remsen Street. But while this is good news, I am curious about what the new buyer can do with the former campus given some of the issues I noted in my first post on the subject (I hope the previous buyer did not back out after reading and considering my first post).