La Salle Academy Secures Future With Property Sale
Proceeds earmarked for school’s endowment
New York, N.Y., July 16, 2020 – In a move that will secure the future of La Salle Academy, one of the oldest all-male Catholic high schools in New York City, La Salle New York City, Inc. has completed the sale of 38 Second Avenue, its administration building on the corner of Second Street and Second Avenue (the Annex) in the East Village of Manhattan.
The property offers 17,415 buildable square feet and sold for $14.5 million, or $833 per buildable square foot. Avison Young’s Marty Cottingham, Principal, and Brandon Polakoff, Senior Director, negotiated the sale on behalf of La Salle New York City, Inc. The buyer was Second and Second Property LLC.
A significant portion of the proceeds from the sale are earmarked for La Salle Academy’s endowment fund, boosting the school’s financial stability and its ability to meet the growing needs of the segment of its student population who require tuition assistance. La Salle Academy, which currently occupies the top three floors of St. George’s Ukrainian School on East 6th Street off Second Avenue, will continue to operate at its present location. La Salle New York City, Inc., in conjunction with the Board’s Executive Committee and the District of Eastern North America (DENA) of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle Christian Brothers), are committed to sustaining the mission of La Salle Academy, which has been serving immigrants and the sons of immigrants in lower Manhattan for more than 172 years.
La Salle New York City, Inc., the owner of the Annex property, in collaboration with the Executive Committee of La Salle Academy’s Board of Trustees and the District of Eastern North America (DENA) of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle Christian Brothers), capitalized on the opportunity to sell its valuable asset following the recent sale of Archdiocesan properties that share the block with the Annex on Second Avenue.
Brother Thomas Casey, FSC, current President of La Salle Academy, remarked enthusiastically, “This sale will benefit La Salle students far into the future.”
“This transaction will be a game-changer for La Salle Academy,” said Cottingham, a graduate of La Salle Academy who serves as Co-Vice Chairman on the Board of Trustees. “By earmarking a significant portion of the proceeds for the endowment, we are ensuring that the school will remain viable and continue to serve students for many years to come.”
La Salle purchased the Annex property in 1966 to provide additional space for its large population of students during that era. Since 2010, the Annex served as the home of the Brothers’ Community that was associated with the school and provided office space for some members of the school’s administrative staff.
La Salle Academy’s former school building and Brothers’ Residence on Second Street, which is currently leased by the Nord Anglia International School, are not included in the transaction. Nord Anglia’s lease expires in 2025; however, the elite international school has two five-year options to renew its lease with La Salle New York City, Inc.
La Salle Academy is a college preparatory Catholic high school that serves a culturally diverse group of students from all five boroughs that celebrates a spirit of brotherhood grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the tradition of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, the Patron Saint of Teachers. For more information about La Salle Academy contact Ismini Scouras at 212-475-8940 ext. 204, email [email protected] or visit www.lasalleacademy.org.
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The mission of La Salle Academy, a rigorous college-preparatory high school, is to educate students of diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds with special outreach to those most in need. We provide a nurturing environment, which fosters spiritual, moral, intellectual, emotional and physical growth in the Roman Catholic tradition and the Lasallian spirit, as embodied in Saint John Baptist de La Salle. We create experiences of community within the school and encourage each student to develop his gifts and talents for his own growth, as well as to engage in the caring service of others, through its academic, extra-curricularand spiritual programs.
Avison Young is the world’s fastest-growing commercial real estate services firm. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Avison Young is a collaborative, global firm owned and operated by its Principals. Founded in 1978, with legacies dating back more than 200 years, the company comprises thousands of real estate professionals in more than 100 offices around the world. The firm’s experts provide value-added, client-centric investment sales, leasing, advisory, management and financing services to clients across the office, retail, industrial, multi-family and hospitality sectors. Avison Young is a 2020 winner of the Canada’s Best Managed Companies Platinum Club designation, having retained its Best Managed designation for nine consecutive years. www.avisonyoung.com.
