SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio — There’s a prospective buyer — and a $7.5 million offer on the table — for the former Notre Dame College campus in South Euclid.
Court records show that a Jewish day school and a partner are pursuing the 50-acre property, which has been sitting silent since May 2024. Now other suitors will get a chance to make their offers, setting the stage for a potential auction.
Yeshiva Derech Hatorah and Seven Wells LLC just established the floor — the starting price — for the campus with their $7.5 million bid. Together, they’re serving as the stalking-horse bidder in a court-supervised effort to get the best price for the real estate.
Bank of America filed a foreclosure lawsuit against the defunct college in May 2025, saying Notre Dame had defaulted on more than $20 million in debt.
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In November, a receiver — an outside expert appointed by a federal court judge — took control of the property and started preparing for a sale.
Court records show competing offers are due by May 1. If multiple bids come in, the auction will take place on May 7. The receiver’s goal is to sell the property by June 30.
City officials are watching the whole process closely.
"For over a century, this 50-acre property has been a cornerstone of our community and is deeply woven into the fabric of South Euclid,” Mayor Georgine Welo said in a written statement Wednesday afternoon.
"Given its significance to our community, any future development of the site will be evaluated through the city’s established zoning regulations and review processes, with careful consideration given to compatibility with surrounding neighborhoods and the long-term impact on the community," she added.
The receiver, David Baker of Aurora Management Partners, notified the court about the stalking-horse bidder on Tuesday.
A purchase agreement attached to that notice shows the school, currently located in Cleveland Heights, only wants one of the former buildings — the old Regina High School, which sits on roughly 8.6 acres off South Green Road.
Rabbi Sender Stoll, the executive director of Yeshiva Derech Hatorah, did not respond to an inquiry from News 5.
The nonprofit yeshiva has been fundraising for a new home for its boys’ school, with a $20 million capital campaign underway, according to its website. The school also plans to make upgrades to its girls’ school facilities in South Euclid and Cleveland Heights using part of that money.
Seven Wells LLC would buy the rest of the Notre Dame campus, according to court records. It’s unclear what the company hopes to do with the property.
Representatives listed in court documents and on the company’s state business filings either declined to comment or did not respond to phone calls from News 5.
Notre Dame shut its doors almost two years ago, citing shrinking enrollment, rising costs and a heavy debt load. An initial push to sell the property stalled out because of legal battles over why and how the nonprofit school folded.
The receivership cleared the way for a sale — and multiple developers are interested, said Peter Corrigan, a former professor who still hopes there’s a way to revive the college.
“It would be a shame if the thing sold for $8 million,” he said on Wednesday.
Corrigan is part of the Friends of Notre Dame College, a group of former students, faculty and staff who want higher education to be part of any redevelopment plan for the campus. Last year, they launched a fundraising effort, with the goal of buying a slice of the property and opening a smaller school there. But that campaign fell far short of its goal.
RELATED: Sale push resumes for Notre Dame College; advocates still hope to revive school
They’re still talking to developers — and other schools in the area — about being part of a project. Corrigan said they’re focused on Notre Dame’s historic administration building, a Gothic Revival-style structure at the heart of the campus.
"If things work out and the right people win the bid, we would cooperate with them. … The people that we’re talking to have indicated to us that they have the money to put the entirety of the bid together,” he said, declining to elaborate on those conversations.
A sale will resolve the foreclosure lawsuit, with Bank of America likely to recoup only part of what it’s owed.
But there’s still an effort — and a separate, state court lawsuit filed by Ohio’s attorney general — to figure out whether the nonprofit college’s board misused donor funds to pay off debt and other expenses.
Michelle Jarboe is the business growth and development reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @MJarboe or email her at Michelle.Jarboe@wews.com.
