BAY RIDGE — The Sisters of the Visitation are in the process of selling their Bay Ridge property, a 7.5-acre site that housed their monastery and Visitation Academy for decades, a consultant on the multi-million-dollar real estate transaction confirmed to The Tablet.
“I can confirm that the property is under contract to be sold,” Frank Dalicandro, a consultant on the sale, said in a text message to The Tablet. Dalicandro declined to comment further.
In real estate, “under contract” means that the buyer and seller have reached a purchase agreement that has yet to be finalized. The Sisters of the Visitation also declined to comment.
Stephen P. Palmese, one of the listed buyers, told The Tablet in an email that “We do not own the property at this time and are not at liberty to discuss it.”
However, a document sent to The Tablet by the office of New York State Attorney General Letitia James stated that the Sisters of the Visitation plan to sell the property at 8902 Ridge Blvd. for about $42 million to 1137 91 LLC. The document lists a group of “beneficial owners” as Scott Geddes, Daniel Kodsi, Matthew Kodsi, Rachel Foster, and Palmese.
As a nonprofit, the Sisters of the Visitation must obtain approval from the state attorney general to sell the property under New York State law. Assistant Attorney General Anthe Maria Bova signed the document granting approval on Aug. 10.
According to the document, the sisters and the buyers entered into a contractual agreement on April 23 and amended it on June 2. The document states that the sisters applied to the Attorney General’s office for approval on Aug. 7.
The sisters are required to notify the attorney general’s office in writing within 90 days of the Aug. 10 approval date of the status of the sale — whether it has been completed, abandoned, or is still pending.
The property, which takes up an entire city block and is hidden behind 20-foot-high stone walls, contains a cluster of trees and a small lake, as well as the monastery, a chapel, a convent, and Visitation Academy, a K-8 school for girls.
The Sisters of the Visitation, who had maintained a presence in Bay Ridge since 1903, announced in 2024 that, due to dwindling ranks of sisters, they would close the monastery, cease their sponsorship of Visitation Academy (the school they established the same year they came to Bay Ridge), and move out. At the time of the announcement, only two sisters were living there.