BH Properties has bought the 66-year-old Holy Name University campus in Auckland.
The Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm purchased the 56.8-acre former Catholic college at 3500 Mountain Boulevard, According to the San Francisco Business Times, Citing unidentified sources close to the deal.
The sale price was not disclosed, but the university listed the shuttered campus for $70 million this spring. The 155-year-old university closed in May after its final semester.
The school defaulted on a $49 million loan to Dallas-based Preston Hollow Community Capital.
The campus has 15 buildings, including a performing arts center, gymnasium, chapel, library, 30 classrooms and residence halls for 450 students.
Holy Names is in discussions with a buyer – presumably BH – Interested in preserving the campus for educational usea source with knowledge of the deal previously told The Business Times.
The sale comes three weeks before bidding at the property’s foreclosure auction scheduled for June 30.
BH President Jim Brooks tell american real estate capital Last year, the company was looking at distressed assets across the country with plans to buy loans from lenders and eventually take title.
Campus marketing materials suggest that Oakland Hills properties could be redeveloped into housing.
But since it was put up for sale, Auckland officials have called for it to be preserved for educational use. In March, a group of city leaders wrote to Holy Names saying the college was critical to the city’s economic development and workforce.
They urged the college to find another educational provider to keep the campus open after the closure of the Holy Names.
Holy Names officials said last month they had reached out to more than 100 historically black colleges and universities in the Bay Area, as well as smaller liberal arts colleges, about taking over campuses.
But they believe the $200 million in deferred maintenance could deter potential buyers.
Founded in 1868, Holy Name University is a private Roman Catholic university founded in Oakland by the Holy Name Sisters from Quebec, Canada.
— Dana Bartholomew
