St. Francis College Dropping Athletics; Sale of Brooklyn Heights Campus May Have “Fallen Through”

By on March 21, 2023 11:52 pm in 11201, Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Education, News, Real Estate, Schools

As Andy Furman reports in The Eagle (and thanks to ever alert reader Andrew Porter for the tip), St. Francis College is terminating its intercollegiate athletic programs, according to its Athletic Director, Irma Garcia, who is losing her job. In our post two years ago, when St. Francis announced its intention to sell its Brooklyn Heights campus and move into smaller quarters in Downtown Brooklyn, Ms. Garcia said that the athletic programs would temporarily share facilities with other nearby institutions, but added, “SFC is developing a permanent solution for its indoor sports and other athletics facilities longer term. More information will be announced soon.”

It seems that “permanent solution” became too expensive. According to a “source” quoted in the Eagle story, concerning the previously announced sale of St. Francis’ Brooklyn Heights campus for $200 million, “we hear that the deal fell through.” St. Francis’ President, Miguel Martinez-Saenz is said to be on leave of absence, but the Eagle’s “sources” say “he’s been fired.”

Could this portend the end of an over 160 year old institution? The college’s website offers an upbeat view, noting that a new acting president has been appointed, and promoting “SFC Forward — A Strategic Vision for 2023 and Beyond.”

Photo: C. Scales for BHB

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  • MaggieO

    yikes. i feel bad for all the folks involved in this. seems like a gigantic mess for this institution.

  • Mike Suko

    Just a “heads up” that the SFC website DOES say that the “old Pres” is on leave, and they HAVE a new acting Pres. in place. If you look at who/what comprises “Division I” and ask yourself what kind of look it is to close some parochial schools every year (STILL) … and do serious recruiting in basketball and presumably have to do some building, because “shared space” even as close as LIU is arguably an even worse choice & “look,” this doesn’t look like all that tough a call. One wonders where the foreign students recruited to play water polo will go next.

    As for the sale of the old space, this isn’t like the Bossert with serious r.e. heavies playing chicken with one another. Unless the smarties really think that there’s “too much” in downtown Brooklyn’s pipeline at this point, I’d bet almost anything that there’s nothing to see here. I.e., a big new building will top out there within 36 months. Ownership TBA.

  • Andrew Porter

    The Brooklyn Heights Historic District includes the entire block of Remsen all the way to Court Street—see map below—so “a big new building” is not going to happen.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b2e8bc9d50b33c45ac6fdb6ce12cbd039fc3a817bc8d89ae7b07cdee79e27222.png