By Ken Epstein

After deciding to shut down at the end of May, the Holy Names University (HNU) Board of Trustees has just sold the 58-acre campus in the Oakland hills to a Los Angeles-based real estate firm, BH Properties, a company with minimal connection to education or to Oakland.

Though the price was not revealed, previous reports said the asking price was $70 million.

Kimberly Mayfield, Deputy Mayor of Oakland and a former HNU administrator, has worked to save the HNU campus as a site for higher education in Oakland. She is hoping that the new owners will be willing to respond to community needs.

In an interview with the Oakland Post this week, Mayfield said, “I hope they will preserve the campus for educational use, especially for higher education, such as an institution like a Historically Black College or University (HBCU). We need more higher education opportunities here in Oakland. That’s what we’re losing.”

She said was particularly concerned for students who were left in the lurch with debts and unfinished degrees when HNU closed.

Leading up to the sale, the HNU board operated mostly in secrecy, not transparent with faculty or students, and ignoring proposals of aid from city and community leaders and educational entities, including two proposals to place an HBCU on the campus.

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BH Properties says it seeks to attract new tenants to continue using the property for academic use.

“We are excited to announce this long-term investment in the Oakland community,” said Jim Brooks, president of BH Properties, in a statement quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle.

“This educational institution has long been a resource to the City of Oakland and the Bay Area, and we expect it to continue to be an asset to the community and its students for years to come,” he said.

“There are many organizations in dire need of educational space, and we believe there will be significant interest in leasing this site,” said Andy Van Tuyle, BH Properties senior managing director, investments, according to a statement quoted by the Chronicle. “The history, location, and amenities provide a unique opportunity to provide facilities for the many educational institutions seeking expansion alternatives.”

With connections to a large charter school network, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, BH Properties owns property throughout the country. Since it was founded in 1994. the company has about 10 million square feet of commercial assets and 2,100 multifamily units.

Betting on a “dramatic and troubling increase” in defaults, foreclosures, receiverships and bankruptcy filings across the country, the company created a $200 million fund to target distressed assets in response to the pandemic in 2020.

“BH Properties sees a growing opportunity to acquire attractive real estate by buying non-performing loans over the next few months as raising borrowing costs make refinancing harder and harder. The choppier the markets get, the better for groups like us that thrive on these market disruptions,” Brooks said in an interview in July 2022 on a real estate website, Real Estate Capital USA.

Brokers David Klein and Jeff Moeller of Lee & Associates are leasing agents for the HNU property.

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