CAZENOVIA — Cazenovia’s 199-year-old college was recently listed for sale via A&G Real Estate Partners.
The online listing, which advertises a total of 500,000 square feet (SF) of buildings and 271 total acres, shows both campuses for sale — the main campus in the heart of the village and the nearby equine education center on Woodfield Road in the Town of Cazenovia.
According to the listing, offers will be considered for one or both campuses.
A&G offers the following details on the main campus: 433,000 SF of buildings on 27 acres; dormitories with 600-plus beds; full athletic facilities; well-maintained historic campus; and 20-minutes from Syracuse.
The equestrian campus, as described in the listing, offers the following: 70,000 SF of buildings on 244 acres; state-of-the-art equestrian center; 74 stalls; and large competition arena and paddocks.
A&G is inviting interested parties to register on the listing webpage for more information and a property overview.
Cazenovia College announced on Dec. 7, 2022, that it would be permanently closing following the spring 2023 semester due to financial concerns.
According to the college, the decision was the result of a perfect storm of financial challenges, including a shrinking population of college-aged individuals; skyrocketing inflation; decreased enrollment and increased expenditures during the global pandemic; and recent uncertainty in the bond and stock markets, which made it exceedingly difficult to refinance a $25 million bond debt, which the college defaulted on last fall.
On March 6, 2023, during the regular monthly meeting of the Village of Cazenovia Board of Trustees, Mayor Kurt Wheeler reported that the college, at the behest of the bondholders, had engaged the broker A&G Real Estate Partners to begin marketing the college properties.
Wheeler is part of a team of local leaders and stakeholders that began meeting within days of the college announcing its closing to analyze the challenge facing the community and to start investigating potential future uses for the campus.
According to Wheeler, he and Lauren Lines, executive director of the Cazenovia Area Community Development Association, met with two representatives of the national real estate firm A&G while they were in town familiarizing themselves with the college properties.
“It was a very positive engagement,” Wheeler said during the March village board meeting. “We offered our help to them. . . At this point, it’s a team effort to get the best possible buyer for any part of the college property or, we hope, a big chunk of it all at once. They were very receptive to that. It was not an adversarial meeting at all. It was very positive, very collegial, and cooperative, I thought.”
On April 13, Wheeler said he and Lines relayed to the A&G representatives the community’s aim to identify and evaluate holistic future uses for the college properties that would replicate the substantial economic impact of the institution.
“We provided A&G with our big picture ideas when we met but did not get into marketing strategies,” said Wheeler, who added that he first saw A&G’s listing of the college on Yahoo Business about two weeks ago.
According to the mayor, the firm’s decision to list the college as two campuses “makes sense” because he views the equine facility as distinct from the main campus.
“The listing of the property with a broker has been an anticipated step in the process, so the recent events have not had any impact [on the community’s work],” said Wheeler. “Local leaders will continue their efforts to proactively assess and seek out the best long-term options for our community and work with the college, bondholders, and broker to make them a reality.”
To view the Cazenovia College listing and learn more about A&G Real Estate Partners, visit agrep.com.
To stay up to date on and/or contribute to the local community’s ongoing planning for the future of the Cazenovia College properties, visit futureofcazenovia.org.
