NEW YORK, NY — The dizzying round of real estate selloffs by the Catholic Archdiocese of New York shows no signs of slowing down. The latest to go on the block is the shut down St. Brigid’s School on East Seventh Street off of Avenue “B” in the East Village.

The sale of the shut down East Village elementary school does not include the nearby St. Brigid’s Church and Rectory. The school property is being marketed as a potential luxury condo site next to Tompkins Square Park.

The school at 185 E. 7th St. was used as an check in center by the city during the migrant crisis over the past two years, but last week was listed for sale by Avison Young, which is pitching it as a “premier development opportunity.” The pending selloff was first reported by the East Village blog evgrieve.com.

It comes as the Archdiocese is trying to stave off bankruptcy to raise a fund of up to $800 million to enable it to make a global settlement to past victims of sexual abuse of minors by priests and lay personnel.

News of the looming bankruptcy threat was first reported by Our Town. During the final two years of his 16+ year reign, Cardinal Timothy Dolan accelerated the selloff of real estate. The sell offs included $103 million for its former headquarters building at 1011 First Ave. and the land underneath the Lotto New York Palace Hotel. The Archdiocese announced its was selling the land to the hotel’s owner for $490 million. There were numerous smaller selloffs of shutdown schools, churches, rectories and convents particularly in Manhattan.

Dolan’s resignation letter tied to reaching his 75th birthday last year was only accepted by new Pope Leo XIV on December 18, three days after the hotel property sale was announced. Archbishop Ronald Hicks was announced as the new leader of the 2.5 million Catholics in the archdiocese which includes Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island and seven upstate counties but he was not officially installed until early Feb.

The Archdiocese under Dolan in 2024 sold off the site of the former St. Emeric school and church on 181 Ave. D for $58 million to Spatial Equity and Community Access, with the plan to build over 500 units of affordable housing. The parish was only established in the late 1940s, and the Archdiocese but its church and school to serve occupants of the Jacob Riis public housing complex. But with declining enrollment, the parish in 2013 was merged into the St. Brigid on Avenue B, which at the time still had its elementary school and a rectory and church thanks to a $20 million donation from a secret benefactor which saved the school and church from the wrecker’s ball. But the secret benefactor was not enough to save the school, which shut down at the end of the 2019 school year and is only now going on the block.

The city’s Asylum Seeker Resource Navigation Center was quietly closed in June 2025 as the influx of asylum seeking migrants began to ease and the city no longer needed the St. Brigid School.

Unlike the St. Emeric selloff two years ago, which was designated for affordable housing, or the proposed mixed use building announced by the Rockefeller Group and Atlas Capital in the $96 million UWS purchase of the former Holy Name of Jesus School on W. 97th St., the latest proposed selloff of St. Brigid is being pitched solely to a luxury developer.

“The East Village has seen minimal ground-up luxury condominium construction in recent years, creating a rare opportunity to capture unmet demand in a supply-constrained market,” according to the listing from Avison Young. An artist’s rendition shows an 11-story luxury building on the corner site which it says has potential for a 71,000 sq. ft. residential site or a 94,000 sq. ft. if a buyer/developer wants to take advantage of a city law allowing for taller buildings if a percentage of the building is devoted to affordable housing.

The Archdiocese did not return a call seeking comment.

The comments section to the evgrieve.com shows any new development will not be greeted with open arms in the rapidly gentrifying East Village. A developer might have to face down heated local opposition.

“A building that large with rents on the lux level…the EV gets nothing it needs. The street scene will change. Restaurants will be more expensive and there will be less sunlight in the park,” wrote online poster. “Lose/lose situation.”

“I am a long term resident of 7th Street and C,” said an anonymous poster. “This proposal is an abomination. What a sick cruel joke if it actually happens.” Although another anonymous poster, admittedly a minority among the commenters disagreed, writing: “Good. More customers for small businesses in the area and more housing inventory is good for everyone.”

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