Asbestos removed from retreat house

Bill San Antonio

Work has begun to remove asbestos from the St. Ignatius Retreat House, prompting preservationists to believe the house will likely be demolished. 

John Bralower, a member of the North Shore Land Alliance, declined comment to Blank Slate Media about the asbestos removal, but told Newsday “That is something you do before you demolish a building. I would be shocked if it were not a prelude to demolition.”

In a letter to North Hills residents last week, Mayor Marvin Natiss wrote that asbestos removal is regulated by the New York State Department of Labor and requires a submission of “Notification” prior to work beginning. The state then sends an inspector to verify the work’s compliance with the law. 

Natiss continued that the Department of Labor had notified the village that the asbestos was removed legally and was not a health risk to residents.

“They had their permits from the department of labor, they had inspectors, they had everything they had to have,” Natiss said Tuesday in a phone interview. “My inspector was there more than a week ago to make sure everything was in place. They wore the protective gear they needed and there was no risk to the public.”

Natiss added the asbestos removal was not indicative of the owner’s desire to demolish the house or leave it standing, saying “remediation [of asbestos] would have to be accomplished whether they kept it or disposed of it.”

In late July, the retreat house also known as Inisfada was sold by the Jesuit order to the Manhasset Bay Group, Inc. for $36.5 million. Efforts to reach Manhasset Bay Group officials were unavailing.

It is unclear whether the Manhasset Bay Group, which according to state records was established in Delaware earlier this year, plans to maintain the mansion and build around it or demolish it outright. 

Jesuit officials have declined to reveal the identity of the buyer with whom it was negotiating the sale. It has been reported that the Manhasset Bay Group represents a land developer based in Hong Kong.

Natiss has said the buyer expressed interest in building condominiums on the property and turn it into “the jewel of North Hills.” The property has zoning for two houses per acre.

In the last few months, local civic groups have tried to find an alternative buyer for the house, but officials have said the Jesuit order has not returned calls seeking to join the negotiations.

Rich Bentley, the president of the Council for Greater Manhasset Civic Associations, has questioned whether the Jesuit order’s relationship with a Chinese developer could be tied to a recently announced, Jesuit-run liberal arts college set to open in Fanling, China in 2015.

In mid July, the Council of Greater Manhasset Civic Associations filed an application to put Inisfada on the National Register of  Historic Places, in an effort to block the sale of the house.

In addition, a Brooklyn-based health care company, SynergyFirst International, has tried to prevent the sale and change of ownership in the property in an effort to purchase Inisfada and maintain the retreat house.

SynergyFirst officials claim to have made a $36 million cash offer to the Jesuits for Inisfada in late July that included a demand to reconstruct the Genevieve Chapel and restore any furnishings and rooms the order had removed since the retreat house closed. Jesuit officials have declined to confirm or deny whether the offer was made.

After the property closed on June 2, the chapel and other furnishings were removed and donated to Fordham University. The chapel holds religious significance locally because Pope Pius XII celebrated mass there in 1936 when he was still a cardinal and on tour in the United States.

SynergyFirst attempted to file a restraining order against the sale and potential destruction of Inisfada in Nassau County Supreme Court late July, but the company’s attorney, Alexander Levkovich, withdrew the motion after the sale of the property was announced in court and the Manhasset Bay Group was revealed as the new owner.

More recently, Nassau Legislator Richard Nicolello and New York State Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel (D-Great Neck) have written letters to state Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey calling for the house’s preservation. 

“If we don’t maintain properties such as the St. Ignatius Retreat House now, and recognize their importance with designations such as listing on the State and National Registers, they will not be here for future generations to appreciate centuries from now,” Nicolello wrote.

The residence was built for $2.3 million between 1916-1920 for industrialist Nicholas Brady and his wife Genevieve, who also had residents in Manhttan and Rome and maintained a close relationship with the Catholic church.

After Genevieve Brady died in 1938, the then-300-acre property was left to the Jesuits, who used the Searingtown Road property as a seminary and retreat house for regional parishes and faith-based addiction help groups.

The Jesuits maintained the property for more than 50 years, but high operating costs led the order to sell off most of the property and eventually put the remaining 33 acres on the housing market a little more than a year ago. 

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