Sisters of the Visitation Monastery Sells to Integritas Capital for $42M

A 170-year-old monastery in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, has sold for $42.25 million. 

The Sisters of the Visitation’s 7.5-acre campus at 8902 Ridge Boulevard — a campus behind 30-foot stone walls, with a monastery, chapel and school — was bought by a group of Brooklyn-based developers and investors with a history of large residential projects, including leaders of Integritas Capital and Heights Advisors.

A petition by the Catholic religious order to sell its real estate was approved by the office of the New York State Attorney General on Monday. Nonprofits are required by New York law to obtain approval when it sells all or most of its assets.

The buyer entity, 1137 91 LLC, is led by Brooklyn real estate investor Stephen Palmese, founder of private equity platform Integritas Capital (and a former vice chair at JLL). Passive investors included Rachel Foster, founder and president of Brooklyn housing developer Heights Advisors, alongside the developer’s director, Scott Geddes, as well as Daniel Kodsi and Matthew Kodsi .

The longtime professional partners are planning a resort-residential tower in Fort Lauderdale, according to The Real Deal. Palmese’s Integritas is also the lender behind a forthcoming 27-story church-to-residential conversion in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene. 

The cohort of buyers suggests the historic property’s likely fate as a major mixed-used or residential development. 

The Visitation Sisters entered into an initial contract in late April, according to the filing, but the school and monastery have been shuttered since 2024, after their numbers dropped too low to sustain full ministry. The Visitation Sisters, formally the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, were a French order founded in 1610. Their presence in Brooklyn dates back to 1855. 

The sellers expect net proceeds of $40.9 million, according to the filing, which will be held in escrow under an approved dissolution and distribution of assets plan.

The beneficial owners and their representatives did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

Emily Davis can be reached at edavis@commercialobserver.com.

Update: This story has been updated to reflect the correct beneficial owners of the buyer entity.