Plans are going forward to guide the fate of the shuttered College of Saint Rose campus in Albany.
The decision to close under financial pressure was announced by the private college’s Board of Trustees in December 2023. Saint Rose said it had struggled to stay afloat, faced with declining enrollment worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In May, the board selected international real estate broker Jones Lang LaSalle to help market the 81-building campus in the heart of the city of Albany’s Pine Hills Neighborhood.
David Carlos, Head of Nonprofit, Education & Government Practice with JLL New York, says the firm, which offers a host of different types of real estate services to all sectors in the commercial marketplace, connected with Saint Rose via FTI, the college's financial advisor. Carlos says JLL, with over 100,000 employees worldwide, competed against nine other firms to handle disposition of the campus.
"I've been doing, specializing in, nonprofit education, real estate and advisory for the last 21 years," Carlos said. "We have sold many campuses, buildings, education, healthcare, other nonprofits, we have done a number of these types of transactions across the tri-state area, within New York City, Westchester County. We've done a number of these before, currently working with a variety of different education organizations on similar dispositions. We're selling a large campus for St. John's University on Staten Island in New York City. We're doing a number of dispositions for Hebrew Union College, both in New York, Cincinnati and Los Angeles, and working with a host of other large universities across the country doing similar types of dispositions."
Carlos says JLL launched an international marketing campaign two weeks ago with a plan to sell the real estate for the highest price possible. He's been working with 109th district state Assemblywoman Pat Fahy, who helped fast-track legislation that created the Albany County Pine Hills Land Authority.
"I had the pleasure of meeting with Pat Fahy the last time I was up in Albany," said Carlos. "And yes, we outlined our timeline, and our plan is to have as much activity, have as many phone calls as possible over the next two months, through the summer, and in mid-September, start to ask for bids. So first round bids will be due mid-September, and then from there, we will assess the level of interest that we get from the marketplace, and then hopefully by the end of the year, we will have a buyer or buyers identified. That's our goal."
Albany County Executive Dan McCoy says he wants to ensure that JLL, the Land Authority and the Board of Trustees are all on the same page.
"We have to meet with the board because they're actually, you know, some of the things that we're hearing is that they're going to be taking loans out, and they want to do economic development," McCoy said. "Our goal is to take the whole property, and if I can't get the whole property under the authority, there's no sense in going forward. So one of the things we're going to be doing is working with them over the course. That's why we've been taking steps and working forward. So once we get there, you know, we'll be better off, and because I can't be competing with the Saint Rose board, and our authority and we have, you know, the certain properties that we can purchase, you know, going to be harder to convert into a practical use where the other buildings could offset some of that? And I got to protect the taxpayers of Albany County at the end of the day."
Carlos said "I think the best outcome would be for a large institution that wants to plant its flag in the Capital Region, to purchase the campus and maintain many of the buildings the way they are, and naturally pay the highest price, because the college has many creditors that it now needs to satisfy. And naturally, you know, we're trying to do the best that we can in order to satisfy all those creditors. So I think finding another large institution that can, you know, be an anchor for this Pine Hills Community. Would be the best result."
Carlos says school officials remain committed to the community and for now the college will continue to own the property, maintain it and keep it safe and secure, even though it has officially closed.
