Bay Ridge neighbors push to landmark the Visitation Academy campus as a $42 million sale looms

Neighbors and alumnae in Bay Ridge are asking the city to landmark the former Visitation Academy and Monastery, the walled 7.5-acre campus at 8902 Ridge Boulevard, before a pending sale to developers moves forward, Brooklyn Paper reported.

The Visitation Academy & Monastery Landmark Initiative, founded by Visitation graduate Caroline Cardillo, says it submitted a 430-page Request for Evaluation to the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Oct. 1, asking for the entire block to be designated as a single individual landmark. The filing includes an 81-page history, 252 photographs and a separate 30-page emergency notice to the LPC's archaeology department about a possible burial ground on the grounds, the group says on its website.

Cardillo told Brooklyn Paper the goal is not to block the sale but to protect the historic buildings, and the group plans a rally in front of the site at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14.

What the LPC says

An LPC spokesperson told Brownstoner, in a report republished by Brooklyn Paper, that the agency has received several requests to evaluate the site, including multiple in recent months. Staff have determined that the main chapel could merit individual landmark status, but the site as a whole needs more study. A request for evaluation does not automatically start a designation, the spokesperson said.

It is not the first try. The Historic Districts Council filed its own request in 2024, when the academy closed, and gathered more than 2,000 petition signatures. HDC's executive director, Frampton Tolbert, told Brownstoner that landmarking the key buildings while adapting the rest of the campus for housing or schools could be a "win-win."

Council Member Kayla Santosuosso said she supports the effort, has been urging the LPC to put the site on its calendar, and has not heard from the buyers. She called the lack of communication "incredibly uncommon and concerning" for a property this large.

The sale

The Sisters of the Visitation closed their monastery and ended their sponsorship of the girls' school in 2024 as their numbers dwindled, The Tablet reported. The property, bounded by 89th and 91st streets, Ridge Boulevard and Colonial Road, is under contract to be sold for about $42 million to 1137 91 LLC.

Commercial Observer put the price at $42.25 million and reported that the buyer is led by Brooklyn investor Stephen Palmese, founder of Integritas Capital, with investors including Rachel Foster, founder of housing developer Heights Advisors. Because the sisters are a nonprofit, the state attorney general had to approve the deal, which an assistant attorney general signed on Aug. 10, according to The Tablet. The sisters must report to the attorney general within 90 days of that approval on whether the sale has closed, been abandoned or is still pending. Brooklyn Paper describes the sale as still pending.

What's on the site

• Two 19th-century buildings from the Kings County Inebriates' Home, a treatment center founded in 1867. The older one became the monastery and the 1888 building became the academy after the sisters arrived in 1903.
• The Sacred Heart Chapel, designed by Brooklyn architect Franz J. Berlenbach Jr. and dedicated in 1913. A 2014 report for the Historic Districts Council called the complex "an elegant composition" of Renaissance Revival buildings.
• The enclosure wall, built in 1922, plus a lake, lawns and mature trees.