The 7.5-acre Visitation Academy and monastery campus in Bay Ridge, enclosed for generations behind a 30-foot stone wall, has been sold to a private equity firm for $42.25 million, ending 170 years of ties between the site and the neighborhood it served. The buyer, Integritas Capital, closed on the property this month after the Visitation Sisters of Brooklyn Inc. put the historic grounds on the market following the closure of the beloved all-girls school and the departure of its dwindling order of nuns.
According to state filings reported by Commercial Observer, Integritas Capital acquired the monastery property for $42.25 million through a buyer entity called 1137 91 LLC, which was formed in March 2026. That entity is led by Integritas Capital founder Stephen Palmese, alongside passive investors including Heights Advisors president Rachel Foster, Heights director Scott Geddes, and Florida developers Daniel and Matthew Kodsi — a syndicate that signals real estate development, not preservation, is likely ahead. The Sisters of the Visitation entered into an initial sales contract in late April 2026 and expect net proceeds of $40.9 million from the deal, which will be held in escrow, per the same account.
The transaction required formal sign-off from the New York State Attorney General's office, which approved the Catholic order's petition on Monday under state law requiring such approval whenever a non-profit sells substantially all of its assets. Integritas Capital describes itself as a vertically integrated private equity firm focused on commercial real estate private equity and private credit strategies, and says on its company website that it has led investment in more than $2.5 billion in real estate projects and developed more than $1 billion in real estate transactions since 2004, as reported by Brooklyn Eagle.
A Community Says It Was Shut Out
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis said Bay Ridge and New York deserved better than to be blindsided and kept in the dark, adding that the community was disappointed the beloved site had been sold. Kayla Santosuosso, who leads the local Bay Ridge community group cited in the Eagle's report, said the sale process excluded her office and the broader community from the start, and that the new owner's intentions for the property remain unknown.
Local organizations and community groups had submitted serious offers and proposals for the site, but offers and proposals from local groups were passed over as the highest bidder and financial considerations prevailed, according to the Eagle. Santosuosso said she plans to push to preserve existing property, open space and historic character, and will work to ensure any future use is responsible, appropriate for its surroundings and respectful of the neighborhood's character.
Complicating those efforts is the fact that the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission has not designated the Visitation campus as an Individual Landmark, leaving its Renaissance Revival buildings and open grounds without municipal protection against demolition or alteration. Local preservationists launched a landmarking campaign in 2024 after the school's closure was announced, but Santosuosso noted that landmark status for part of a building would not protect the whole property or structure.
From Rehab Facility to Convent to Private Sale
Visitation Academy was founded in 1855, and the order relocated to the Bay Ridge site in 1903, when the sisters adapted an existing complex that had previously housed the Inebriate Home of Kings County, an addiction rehabilitation facility founded in 1867 that once held up to 300 residents, according to a Change.org petition seeking landmark status for the site. The cream-brick Renaissance Revival buildings that now stand on the campus were completed in 1913, and the grounds include a chapel with an arcaded belfry tower, athletic fields, woodland, and a natural pond with a fountain and boathouse — features the petition describes as some of the only intact private pond and mature tree canopy left in New York City.
The school and monastery announced their closure together in February 2024, and Visitation Academy closed permanently in June 2024. Former Visitation students in sixth through eighth grade found a new home when Fontbonne Hall Academy opened the Visitation program middle school in September 2024. Rocco Gentile said Fontbonne Hall Academy was happy to offer former Visitation students a new home, and alumni gathered that same September for a Thanksgiving service to say goodbye to the space.
Jennifer Sayad said the sale was heartbreaking and infuriating for people connected to the school. Malliotakis said the community had received no real transparency about the sellers' intentions throughout the process.
What Comes Next for the Site
Property buyers suggest the site will likely become a major mixed-use or residential development, according to Commercial Observer's reporting. Any such plan would face regulatory hurdles: the property has historically sat within a low-density residential zoning district, such as R3-1, which generally restricts new construction to one- and two-family homes unless developers secure a rezoning or city land-use variance.
Integritas Capital is already active in similar deals elsewhere in the borough, serving as the lender for a planned 27-story residential conversion of a former church site in Fort Greene, per Commercial Observer. The Visitation sale reflects a broader pattern across Brooklyn, where shrinking monastic orders and falling enrollment have pushed a series of long-standing Catholic school campuses toward closure and private sale, according to the Brooklyn Eagle's report by Jaime DeJesus. For now, what becomes of Bay Ridge's stone-walled campus, its pond, and its century-old chapel remains an open question that neither the buyer nor local officials have publicly answered.
