Former Catholic high school sold for development

BY PETER KATZ Pkatz@westfairinc.com

Adeveloper and holding company based in Hollywood, Florida, wants to create a mixed-use facility at the site of a former Catholic high school in the Kingston area. The company is named Konnectia and describes itself as a having 30 years experience and having developed properties in: Kissimmee, Florida; Michigan; Georgia; Virginia; and New York.

The developer recently purchased the former John A. Coleman Catholic High School at 430 Hurley Ave. in Hurley, a town near Kingston. When the school was closed by the New York Archdiocese in 2019 and put on the market, a real estate brochure described it as having more than 117,000 square feet. The school included a multi-purpose auditorium and gymna- sium, cafeteria, more than 100 parking spaces with room for expansion and athletic fields and a track. The property was described as encompassing 15 acres. The property was being offered for sale at a price of $4.29 million.

Konnectia said that it wants to develop a mixed-use project for the site that would include retail space, 55 office units, a sports complex, 60 residences and 120 hotel rooms. Konnectia did not provide details about what would be in its site plan for the development such as whether the existing school building would be demolished or renovated in an adaptive reuse project. Also not yet disclosed is whether the residences would be apartments or single-family or multifamily structures.

The Archdiocese closed the Coleman High School in August of 2019 when the school year ended. It said that all of the student records were being moved to the

Archdiocesan Archive Center in Yonkers.

The school had operated in Ulster County for more than 50 years. The school’s Board of Trustees had sent out a notice that the operation of the school was no longer sustainable, in part because enrollment was down and maintenance costs for the building were up.