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	Key Diocesan Properties on the Market By Sam Hemingway Burlington Free Press June 16, 2010 http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100516/NEWS02/100515013/Key-diocesan-properties-on-the-market The state's Roman Catholic diocese is aiming to raise enough money from the sale of two large tracts of land, including the site of its headquarters in Burlington, to pay the entire $17.65 million settlement it reached last week with 26 victims of clerical sex abuse. The combined asking price for the diocesan headquarters on North Avenue in Burlington and the former Camp Tara-Holy Cross land on Malletts Bay in Colchester is $20 million, according to listing information provided by the commercial real estate firms contracted to sell the properties. Yves Bradley, vice president for commercial brokerage at Pomerleau Real Estate, said the 32.4-acre headquarters property was placed on the market three weeks ago for $12.5 million. Steve Donahue of Donahue & Associates said the 26.5-acre Colchester camp property has been on the market for nearly a month with a $7.5 million price tag. Both sites already are drawing interest from prospective buyers, Bradley and Donahue said, but neither is likely to sell quickly, given the amount of money needed to buy and then develop the properties. "A sale of this size is going to take time, no matter what," Bradley said of the Burlington property. Donahue said the same was true of the Camp Tara-Holy Cross lands, but he thinks a sale will happen this year. "Because it is unique and special, we've had a lot of interest," he said. "It takes a little bit of time for someone to get comfortable writing a check to buy a property like this, because whatever you do with it, it's going to be a project." Bishop Salvatore Matano, in announcing the settlement of all priest sexual abuse lawsuits pending against the diocese, said the church obtained an interim bank loan to finance the $17.65 million settlement and is counting on the sale of the two properties to pay off that debt. "The people of our diocese should not be the ones to have to satisfy these settlements," he said during a Thursday news conference. The diocese is hoping the settlement closes a painful chapter in its history. The diocese paid several million dollars to settle earlier lawsuits brought by victims of clerical sexual abuse and is paying $3 million or more to settle three other cases that were on appeal before the Vermont Supreme Court. Bradley said the diocesan headquarters property is zoned medium density residential and could accommodate 648 housing units. The site is the largest undeveloped tract of land left in Burlington and is valued on the city's Grand List at $19.8 million. Bradley said the Grand List figure does not reflect the present real estate market, but that the property is unique. "Opportunities like this don't come along very often," he said. Bradley said the 117-year-old brick headquarters structure, formerly the home of the St. Joseph's Orphanage, could end up being refurbished into a housing complex, become an office building or be torn down. Attached to the building is the Bishop Brady Center, built in 1940. Nearby is the former Don Bosco facility, now being used by the HowardCenter as a group home. The land behind the building, all undeveloped, slopes down to the Burlington bike path and Lake Champlain. The diocese last looked into selling the North Avenue property in 2001 when it was valued at $7.6 million. It was taken off the market in 2004. The Camp Tara-Holy Cross property has 20 buildings of various sizes on it, and features 1,000 feet of frontage on Malletts Bay. The property was not given a value on the town's Grand List. Both properties are tax-exempt under diocesan ownership. Donahue said he has received interest in the Colchester property from developers, private individuals interested in having a lakefront estate and the town of Colchester, which is exploring the possibility of preserving it as public land. Matano said the diocese isn't sure where it will move its administrative offices but said several possibilities are under consideration. He said he's at peace with having to move the diocese's corporate operations out of the North Avenue facility. "The Lord will provide for our relocation if we are truly people of faith," he said. "My work is really not to be locked up in an office. My work is to be among the flock, celebrating Holy Mass with them, celebrating the sacraments and preaching the Gospel." Contact: shemingway@burlingtonfreepress.com
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