SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio — The Notre Dame College campus is likely to hit the market again in early 2026 – and a group of former students, faculty and staff still believes higher education should be part of any revival plan.
The Friends of Notre Dame College hope to raise $12 million to $15 million to buy a slice of the 50-acre property and reestablish a small college there. The advocacy group has applied for nonprofit status with the IRS and recently held a kickoff event in Cleveland.
“Our interest is just in bringing back some type of entity that resembles Notre Dame College,” said Peter Corrigan, a former professor heading up the nascent nonprofit’s board.
The century-old college shut its doors in May 2024, citing shrinking enrollment, rising costs and a heavy debt burden. Since then, the campus, nestled between residential streets off South Green Road in South Euclid, has been languishing in limbo.
An initial push to sell the property stalled out because of court fights over why and how the nonprofit college shut its doors. But a court-appointed receiver recently took over the real estate, clearing a fresh path for a sale – despite ongoing litigation.
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That receiver is asking a federal judge to let Keen-Summit Capital Partners LLC, a brokerage that specializes in tricky situations, start marketing the property to buyers.
“The goal is for the property to be under contract and hopefully sold by the end of June,” Michael Love, South Euclid’s planning and development director, said during a phone interview Friday.
That’s why the Friends of Notre Dame College are launching a fundraising effort, with hopes of being a part of a mixed-use redevelopment project. They’re talking to potential partners, including a group that’s interested in using part of the campus for senior housing and existing schools that might want to open a satellite campus, Corrigan said.
“We’re in active conversations with probably four, five different schools about what evolves at Notre Dame,” he added.
A resurrected college might start out with 250 to 300 students and a narrow focus on nursing, teaching or business, Corrigan said. Notre Dame had nearly 1,400 students when it closed.
“It would be a shame to see the property idled for eight or 10 years,” Corrigan said. “We’ve seen that all around Cleveland. … It would be a real shame to lose its academic identity. It’s been around for a long time. It’s affected a lot of people.”
The Friends of Notre Dame College say they’ve already received significant pledges from benefactors. But they’re not willing to talk about the numbers yet.
Of the $12 million to $15 million they hope to raise, $2 million to $5 million would go toward buying a piece of the land. The rest of the money would be for reestablishing a college.
It’s unclear how much the campus is worth. Court records show the marketing effort will not include three single-family homes the college owns on neighboring Lawnway and College roads.
Hanna Commercial Real Estate, which marketed the property for sale last year, never listed an asking price. Bank of America, the lender on the property, filed a foreclosure lawsuit in May over more than $20.5 million in debt – but won't necessarily recoup what it's owed.
The Cuyahoga County Fiscal Office lists a value of $26.4 million for the campus. But that doesn’t account for the money a buyer would have to put into remaking or demolishing buildings, from dorms to a dining hall, a library and an athletic center. The centerpiece of the campus is a Gothic Revival-style administration building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The receiver, David Baker of North Carolina-based Aurora Management Partners, did not respond to an interview request. Baker took control of the property in November.
Over the last 18 months, officials in South Euclid have heard about a wide variety of mixed-use redevelopment proposals, from housing to education to office space. Cleveland Soccer Group, which is planning a stadium Downtown, also eyed the campus as a potential site for its headquarters and a soccer-training facility.
Love said it would be fantastic to see the college revived in some form, in a smaller footprint. “We’re hoping that whoever ends up purchasing the property would be willing to work with them,” he said of the Friends of Notre Dame College.
But the ultimate outcome will be up to the bank – and the courts.
In May, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a state court lawsuit accusing Notre Dame board members of misusing donor money to pay debt and other expenses. Bank of America filed its foreclosure lawsuit in federal court the following day, attempting to nudge a sale along as the growing snarl of litigation scared off prospective buyers.
Court records show that the attorney general’s office and Bank of America reached an agreement in October. The deal allowed Bank of America to move forward with asking for a receiver and trying to sell the campus, using the money to offset the outstanding debt.
Separately, Yost’s office is focusing on the college’s endowment funds – whether there is, indeed, missing money; how much is left; and how to honor donors’ intentions.
A second court-appointed receiver, attorney Tim Collins of Thrasher Dinsmore & Dolan in Cleveland, is responsible for sorting through that tangle – including money in the bank and possible insurance claims – and ultimately dissolving what’s left of Notre Dame.
Corrigan and other advocates have been speaking up every step of the way.
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Last year, they sued Notre Dame board members and the college’s chief liquidation officer in two unsuccessful attempts to stop or reverse a shutdown.
Now they’re shifting their attention from what happened to what’s possible.
“To let it all just fold up and go away, it just didn’t seem like it was the right thing,” Corrigan said. “We’ve been at it for about a year and a half, closing in on two years. And we’re not going anywhere until the judge says it’s over.”
