The sale of the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School’s campus to Top Capital of New York is off, CRCDS official Thomas McDade Clay, says. “But we have a new buyer,” said McDade Clay, who is the school’s vice president for institutional advancement.
Top Capital had planned to invest $36 million in renovations to the divinity school property, create a small hotel and conference center in the existing buildings, and construct a new building for the school. But the company was having trouble getting financing, McDade Clay said in a phone interview this morning.Â
McDade Clay declined to disclose the name of the new buyer or the sale price and said the new buyer is in the “due diligence” stage. He said he expects the sale to close by the end of the summer, which is when Top Capital had planned to close on the property.Â
Many neighbors near the 24-acre site near Highland Park had been concerned about the sale and possible changes to the site. Ultimately, much of the campus was named a city landmark, which means that new construction or exterior changes to the existing historic buildings have to have city approval. A portion of the property on the top of the hill was excluded so that Top Capital could construct a new building for the divinity school.
The new buyer knows that the campus is now a Rochester landmark, McDade Clay said. Information about the new buyer “will be forthcoming,” he said, but he declined to specify a date.
This article appears in May 2-8, 2018.
