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The city of Stamford”™s fresh ownership of the former Sacred Heart Academy emboldened Mayor David Martin.
During the official transfer of keys for the 10.8-acre parcel with three buildings from the Sisters of St. Joseph, Martin cut a flower from beside the school”™s front stairs as a gift for Sister Susan Cunningham. The Sisters of St. Joseph”™s West Hartford-based provincial superior, whose order owned the building for nearly a century, accepted the flower and said, “May your graduates turn out as good as ours.”
The final price was reported at $9.75 million. The city wants to see another school there but has floated no specific plans.
“This new school will help with our school overcrowding,” Martin said. “We are fully appreciative of what the Sisters of St. Joe have done for Stamford.”
Newmark Grubb Knight Frank of Greenwich represented the Sisters of St. Joseph in the sale. Cunningham and Sisters Elizabeth Anderson and Ann Kane, who acted as counselors on the deal, corralled Newmark”™s senior managing director, Kim Mowers. They praised his efforts and insisted he join the photos being taken on the impromptu dais on the school”™s front steps. Mowers obliged.
The building dates to 1925, but Anderson said her mother, Ethel Regan, attended Sacred Heart Academy in a previous building on the site and eventually graduated from the new building with the first Sacred Heart Academy high school graduates in 1926. “She went to Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia and then returned and taught in Stamford,” Anderson said.
The Stanwich School in Greenwich was the last school to use the site, leasing it from 2009 to 2013 while its Greenwich campus underwent renovations. Sacred Heart Academy shuttered in 2006.
Plans for the facility”™s three buildings ”“ the main school, a convent and a theater barn ”“ have not been finalized. The city plans to hire an architect to plot prospective layouts.
“We have a lot of work to do so we can have a great school here, which is our desired goal,” Martin said.
The school”™s playing fields will be put to use immediately, the mayor said.
Before the ceremony, Laurie Albano, the city”™s superintendent of recreation services, paced the fields. “Getting a rough sense of how much we have to deal with,” she said.
Later, Albano said, “This is a home run and a great deal for the city. These types of properties ”“ centrally located and with these amenities ”“ don”™t come around very often.”
In a January interview with the Fairfield County Business Journal, Martin said, “The property is a chance to preserve part of Stamford”™s history and character. It will protect open space in an area that has become highly developed over the years.”
Crystal Kang contributed to this story.
