Buildings that housed former St. Joseph's School, former convent up for sale

The asking price is nearly $1.8 million for the building that formerly housed St. Joseph's Elementary School and a nearby former convent

By Paul Kirby pkirby@freemanonline.com @paulatfreeman on Twitter
Aug 19, 2019
Aug 19, 2019
Comments

st josephs corner.jpg — The former St. Joseph's School at 236 Wall St. in Kingston, N.Y.
TANIA BARRICKLO — DAILY FREEMAN

KINGSTON, N.Y. — An Uptown building that was once home to St. Joseph’s Elementary School and a nearby former convent are on the market for nearly $1.8 million, according to a Kingston real estate firm.

The 107-year-old building at 236 Wall St. that once housed St. Joseph’s Elementary School and a convent next door at 59 Pearl St., totaling more than 20,000 square feet, are being marketed for $1,795,000, according to SVN Deegan-Collins Commercial Realty.

St. Joseph’s School, which occupied the building and another one at Wall and Pearl streets, had served studentsfrom pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. It closed in 2017.

According to the SVN Deegan-Collins firm, the brick and limestone school building rises four stories and has more than 12-foot high ceilings.

It is “ideal for conversion to Apartments, Condos, Inn/Hotel, Professional Offices,” the real estate listing says.

The firm notes the former school building, which also includes a basement, and the convent are situated in a “rapidly re-developing neighborhood with new boutique hotels, shops, restaurants and housing.”

The listing also said the stained glass windows in the convent building will be removed before a sale takes place.

st josephs church convent.jpg — The former convent next to the former St. Joseph's School at 59 Pearl Street.
TANIA BARRICKLO — DAILY FREEMAN

Thomas Collins, a partner in the real estate firm, said Monday there has been interest expressed already in the sale. Collins said the current owner is St. Joseph’s Parish.

In 2017, the Archdiocese of New York announced that, with the expected 2017-18 enrollment down to 90 students and a deficit too large to be erased by tuition payments, there was no choice but to close St. Joseph’s School.

At the time, the archdiocese said the school’s yearly tuition of $5,275 per student was insufficient to bring down the deficit, even if supplemented by fundraising efforts.

The archdiocese originally planned to close St. Joseph’s at the end of the 2012-13 school year, but reversed that decision in February 2013.

The second St. Joseph’s building at 235 Wall St. is used by Kingston Catholic School. That building is not up for sale, Collins said.