Mercy College says it will be leaving the former College of New Rochelle campus this summer after one year as a tenant there.
LoHud.com reports that the college has decided to opt out of the second year of its lwase, which set annual rent at $1.8 million.
Mercy had signed a lease for up to two years for the 15.6 acre campus in New Rochelle, N.Y., to ease the transition for some 1,700 former College of New Rochelle students Mercy took on as part of an agreement between the two colleges.
The College of New Rochelle closed in 2019 amid severe financial problems.
[EARLIER: College of New Rochelle's campus is up for sale.]
Mercy stepped in and allowed New Rochelle students to easily transfer to Mercy; it hired dozens of former New Rochelle employees as part of the transition. A college spokeswoman says that after this year’s summer session, students will continue their education for the fall 2020 semester at one of two satellite Mercy campuses, depending on students’ area of study.
The news of Mercy’s departure comes as the campus is being sold to the Masons for $32 million as part of a liquidation to pay off creditors.
The Trustees of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund are planning to build senior housing on the site.
The sale of the campus and pending sale of artwork, equipment and furniture still won’t be enough to pay off the College of New Rochelle’s substantial debts.
The problems included a financial scandal that led to the conviction of a former top finance executive. Former Controller Keith Borge is serving three years in prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2019 to charges of failure to pay the taxes and securities fraud.
Mercy College is based in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., but has other academic spaces, including MercyManhattan in Herald Square and a Bronx campus in the Hutchinson Metro Center.
