The College of New Rochelle is for sale, and the buyer can be the king — or queen — of its castle.
The Westchester County school, which filed for bankruptcy last month, includes a 19th-century castle.
Crushed by $80 million in liabilities, the school is seeking to repay its creditors by auctioning off the 15.6-acre campus about 20 miles north of the Big Apple, according to Bloomberg.
The property — which also includes a TV production studio, four dorms and a library — is worth an estimated $35 million to $50 million, according to a lawyer representing the school in its bankruptcy case.
“This is a rare opportunity,” said Jeff Hubbard, executive managing director at B6 Real Estate Advisors, which is handling the sale with A&G Realty Partners.
“You’ve got an operating college with all of the things in place that you need to run an educational institution,” he added.
Qualifying bids to participate in the auction, which will be held Nov. 21, are due by Nov. 18, according to court documents.
There’s one caveat.
Bankruptcy sales of campus real estate generally don’t generate the windfall that debtors hope for, said Joe D’Angelo, a partner at Carl Marks Advisors who has counseled schools on restructuring and represents the college’s largest secured creditor.
Suburban or rural sites where zoning — or local officials — will likely prevent dense development tend to limit the buying pool, he said.
“When you have something that’s constrained like that, you can’t draw a high expectation that you’re going to get very high value,” D’Angelo said.