Jesuit officials confirmed Monday that the St. Ignatius Retreat House in North Hills has been sold to a local development firm for more than $36 million.
Rev. Vincent Cooke, who is overseeing the sale of the 33-acre property for the Jesuit order, said the sale was completed by the Manhasset Bay Group Inc. for $36.5 million.
Cooke declined to name the buyer with whom the Manhasset Bay Group is working or more details about the Manhasset Bay Group other than its name.
“I really can’t tell you anything else,” Cooke said.
Efforts to reach Manhasset Bay Group officials were unavailing. The group’s attorneys at Cullen & Dykman LLP declined comment. Sources familiar with project have said the developer was based in Hong Kong.
The 87-room retreat house, named “Inisfada” after the Gaelic word for “Long Island,” was built for $2.3 million between 1916-1920 for industrialist Nicholas Brady and his wife Genevieve, who also had residences in Manhattan and Rome.
Following her death in 1938, Genevieve Brady left Inisfada to the Jesuit order, which used the Searingtown Road property as a seminary and retreat house for regional parishes and faith-based addiction help support groups.
The Jesuits maintained the property for more than 50 years, but officials said high operating costs led the order to sell off most of the 300-acre property over the years. The order put the property on the housing market for $49 million a little more than a year ago.
It is unclear whether the buyer plans to maintain the mansion and build around it or demolish it outright. Village of North Hills mayor Marvin Natiss has said the buyer has 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.
SnyergyFirst International, a Brooklyn-based health care group that has interest in buying the house and maintaining it as a retreat, tried to challenge the Jesuits in Nassau County Supreme Court on Thursday in an effort to prevent the sale.
But the group’s attorney, Alexander Levkovich, withdrew a motion for a temporary restraining order after learning the Jesuit order no longer owned the property and Judge Randy Sue Marber would likely not approve the request.
Levkovich said he plans to return to court now that he knows who the new owners of the property are.
Dr. Eli Weinstein, who is overseeing the proposed acquisition for Synergy First International, said efforts to preserve the retreat house have been “upsetting” and “frustrating.”
Weinstein said the organization made a $36 million cash offer on the property last month on the condition that the Jesuit order restore the St. Genevieve Chapel, which had been removed shortly after the retreat house closed.
“When you try to do a sale of a not-for-profit, how can you remove something that was integral to the property? What were they thinking?” Weinstein said. “You can’t just start removing artifacts. We have people looking into this and we will not let this go. If it’s a not-for-profit, it belongs to the community. Whatever they were trying to do real fast under our nose will be found out, either through our attorneys or through our investigation. The people of Long Island want this. This is a mainstay for them.”
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.
