St. Brigid School in East Village Put on Block by Archdiocese

The dizzying round of real estate selloffs by Catholic Archdiocese of New York shows no signs of slowing down. The latest to go is the shut down St. Brigid’s School on East Seventh Street off of Avenue B. in the East Village.

The school at 185 E. Seventh St. , which was used as an check in center during the migrant crisis over the past two years, was listed by Avison Young which is pitching it as a “premier development opportunity. News of the selloff was reported in the blog evgrive.com.

It comes as the Archdiocese is trying to stave off bankruptcy to raise a fund of up to $800 million to enable it to make a global settlement to past victims of sexual abuse of minors by priests and lay personnel.

News of the looming bankruptcy threat was first by Our Town. In the past year, Cardinal Timothy Dolan has been accelerating the selloff of real estate which included $103 million for its former headquarters building at 1011 First Ave. and the land underneath the Lotto New York Palace Hotel, which was sold for $490 million.

Dolan’s resignation letter tied to reaching his 75th birthday last year was only accepted by new Pope Leo XIV on December 18, three days after the hotel property sale was announced. Archbishop Ronald Hicks was officially installed as the leader of the 2.5 million Catholics in the archdiocese which includes Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island and seven upstate counties in Feb.

The Archdiocese in 2024 sold off the site of the former St. Emeric school and church on 181 Avenue D for $58 million to Spacial Equity and Community Access, with the plan to build over 500 units of affordable housing. The parish was then merged into the St. Brigid on Ave. B, which at the time still had a thriving school, thanks to funding from a secret benefactor which saved the school and church from the wrecker’s ball. But the secret benefactor was not enough to save the school, which shut down at the end of the 2019 school year.

The city’s Asylum Seeker Resource Navigation Center was quietly closed in June 2025 as the influx of asylum seeking migrants began to ease.

But the latest selloff appears to be eyeing a more upscale multi-family luxury condo on the site.

“The East Village has seen minimal ground-up luxury condominium construction in recent years, creating a rare opportunity to capture unmet demand in a supply-constrained market,” according to the listing from Avison Young. An artist rendition shows an 11-story luxury building on the corner site which it says has potential for a 71,000 sq. ft. residential site or a 94,000 sq. ft. if a buyer/developer wants to take advantage of a city law allowing for taller buildings if a percentage of the building is devoted to affordable housing.

The Archdiocese did not return a call seeking comment.

The comments section to the evgrieve.com shows any new development will not be greeted with open arms in the rapidly gentrifying East Village. A developer might have to face down heated local opposition.

“A building that large with rents on the lux level...the EV gets nothing it needs. The street scene will change. Restaurants will be more expensive and there will be less sunlight in the park,” wrote online poster. “Lose/lose situation.”

“I am a long term resident of 7th street and C,” said an anonymous poster. “This proposal is an abomination. What a sick cruel joke if it actually happens.” Although another anonymous poster, admittedly a minority among the commenters disagreed, writing: “Good. More customers for small businesses in the area and more housing inventory is good for everyone.”