Judge approves sale of Dowling College’s Oakdale campus for $26.5M
The main mansion on the campus of Dowling College in Oakdale, April 7, 2017. Princeton Education Center made the winning bid to purchase the campus. Credit: Joseph D. Sullivan
A judge Monday approved the sale of Dowling College’s Oakdale campus for $26.5 million to Princeton Education Center LLC.
Princeton Education Center plans to use the campus as a private, bilingual K-12 school licensed by New York State, said Sean Southard, an attorney representing the Dowling estate.
“This was a significant and meaningful first phase,” Southard said. “It was a very successful sales process.”
The sale, approved by Judge Robert E. Grossman of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York’s Eastern District in Central Islip, is expected to close in the next 45 days.
Representing Princeton Education Center, Chengyu Hou, an attorney with Liu, Zheng, Chen & Hoffman in Manhattan, said Monday “many things are not decided yet” regarding the Dowling campus. The firm specializes in working with companies and individuals in China doing business in the U.S.
Princeton has many schools, Hou said, declining to comment further. He didn’t disclose the location of Princeton’s headquarters, and the company could not be reached for comment.
Dowling College ran out of funds, lost its accreditation and closed in August. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November. The estate faces 626 claims totaling $65.8 million filed in the Bankruptcy Court in Central Islip by creditors, vendors, college officials, faculty and staff.
Princeton Education Center was one of five organizations that bid on the 25-acre campus last week.
Dowling’s roughly 105-acre Brookhaven campus, located off William Floyd Parkway in Shirley and abutting Brookhaven Calabro Airport, will also be auctioned. Marketing for the sale is expected to begin in about 60 days, Southard said.
The Brookhaven property is home to the college’s aviation program and features an athletic complex, a two-story residence hall and a 10,000-square-foot airplane hangar.
