A 170-Year-Old Bay Ridge Landmark Just Sold for $42 Million — Here's What Happens Next

I've lived in Bay Ridge for over 50 years. I've also spent years running Destination Bay Ridge, a free community magazine built to celebrate the people and places that make this neighborhood feel like home. So when a story touches this neighborhood as deeply as this one does, I don't just report on it — I feel it, the same way I know a lot of you will.

If you've lived here any length of time, you know the walls at 8902 Ridge Boulevard. Thirty feet of stone, running most of a full block along Ridge Boulevard, hiding a monastery, a chapel, and Visitation Academy behind them. Generations of Bay Ridge girls went to school there. Generations of us walked past those walls without ever seeing what was inside, and somehow that mystery made it feel even more like ours.

This week, that chapter closed for good. The Sisters of the Visitation's 7.5-acre campus has sold for $42.25 million, with the New York State Attorney General's office signing off on the deal Monday. It's one of the largest single-site sales Bay Ridge has seen in years, and I know for many neighbors, this news isn't just about real estate. It's about grief, memory, and worry over what comes next for a place that's been part of our skyline since 1903.

I want to walk you through what we actually know, what's still unknown, and what to watch for — because this neighborhood deserves clear information, not speculation.

The deal, in plain terms

The Sisters of the Visitation — a Catholic order that's called Brooklyn home since 1855 and Bay Ridge specifically since 1903 — entered into contract on the property back in late April. Because the order is a nonprofit selling essentially all of its real estate, New York law required the state Attorney General to approve the sale before it could move forward. That approval came through this past Monday, closing out a process that's been quietly unfolding since the school's heartbreaking closure was first announced back in 2024.

Net proceeds to the Sisters are expected to land around $40.9 million, held in escrow as part of an approved plan to wind down and distribute the order's assets. After 170 years, the Sisters are moving on. I think many of us can hold both truths at once: respect for the Sisters and everything they gave this neighborhood, and real uncertainty about what happens to the ground they leave behind.

The buyer is an LLC called 1137 91 LLC, backed by a group of Brooklyn-based developers and investors.

Who's behind the purchase

I think it's important you know exactly who we're talking about here, because it tells us something about what's likely coming.

The lead buyer is Stephen Palmese, founder of Integritas Capital and a former vice chairman at JLL. Joining him are Rachel Foster, founder and president of Brooklyn residential developer Heights Advisors, along with the firm's director Scott Geddes, and Daniel Kodsi and Matthew Kodsi.

This is a group with real experience in large residential development. Palmese's Integritas is currently financing a 27-story church-to-residential conversion in Fort Greene, and members of this same group are behind a resort-residential tower project in Fort Lauderdale. I'm telling you this not to alarm anyone, but because I think you deserve to walk into this conversation with your eyes open, the same way I want to.

Why the land matters more than the buildings

Here's a number that helps explain what we're looking at. The existing buildings on the site total roughly 52,775 square feet. The land underneath them is 322,000 square feet — about 7.5 acres.

At $42.25 million, that works out to roughly $131 per square foot of land. The property's current tax-assessed market value sits at just $18.4 million — meaning the buyers paid well over double what the assessor says the property is worth today.

That gap tells its own story. It suggests this purchase was made with the land's future potential in mind, not the buildings as they stand.

The landmarking question nobody's answered yet

After Visitation announced its closure in 2024, many of you — neighbors and preservation advocates alike — pushed for the campus to receive individual New York City landmark status, protecting its Renaissance Revival buildings, chapel, and grounds.

That petition exists, and it mattered. What doesn't exist, as far as any public record shows, is an actual landmark designation. Despite more than 150 years on this site, the property was never formally landmarked, and no application appears to have moved forward since the closure was announced.

I know that's a hard thing to read if you signed that petition or cared about this cause. It matters enormously for what comes next: without landmark protection, the buyers have far more latitude to redevelop the site than they otherwise would.

What we don't know yet — and why that matters

No development plan has been filed or announced publicly. We don't know unit counts, building heights, or whether any portion of the historic structures — the chapel especially — will be preserved.

Given the buyer profile and the purchase economics, a substantial residential or mixed-use redevelopment is the reasonable expectation. But it's not confirmed, and I want to be careful with you about that distinction. If you hear someone say they know exactly how many condos are coming, they're guessing — and in a moment like this, our neighborhood deserves facts, not rumors.

What to watch for next, together

This story is just getting started, and I plan to keep tracking it for you. Here's what I'll be watching:

• DOB filings — demolition or new-building permits would be the first concrete sign of intent
• Zoning applications — any ULURP filing or rezoning request would reveal scale and use
• City of Yes implications — NYC's recent housing zoning amendments could shape what's buildable here in ways that wouldn't have applied even two years ago
• Community response — Bay Ridge has organized before around this site, and a project of this scale will likely draw real engagement from Community Board 10 and our local elected officials
• Landmark action — if there's renewed urgency around designation now that the sale has closed, that could slow or reshape any redevelopment timeline

For a neighborhood that doesn't see 7.5-acre parcels change hands very often, this will shape Bay Ridge's next decade — and it deserves our attention, not just our anxiety. I'll keep watching the filings and update this post as real plans emerge, because that's what neighbors do for each other.

Frequently asked questions

Who bought the Sisters of the Visitation property in Bay Ridge? The buyer is an LLC called 1137 91 LLC, led by Stephen Palmese of Integritas Capital, along with Rachel Foster and Scott Geddes of Heights Advisors, and Daniel and Matthew Kodsi.

How much did 8902 Ridge Boulevard sell for? The 7.5-acre campus sold for $42.25 million. The New York State Attorney General's office approved the sale on Monday, August 10, 2026.

Is the Visitation Academy site landmarked? No. Despite a preservation petition and more than 150 years on the site, the property was never granted individual New York City landmark status.

Will the Visitation campus be redeveloped into condos? No official development plan has been filed or announced. The buyer group's history with large residential projects and the price paid relative to assessed value both point toward a substantial residential or mixed-use redevelopment, but nothing is confirmed yet.

What happens to the Sisters of the Visitation after the sale? The order is winding down its presence in Brooklyn after 170 years. Net proceeds of roughly $40.9 million will be held in escrow as part of an approved plan to distribute the order's assets.

Have thoughts or memories of Visitation you want to share? I'd genuinely love to hear them — this is exactly the kind of conversation Bay Ridge should be having together, before anything is decided for us.