A beloved Catholic high school in the Bronx has been spared from closure after the philanthropic arm of Bally’s Corporation reached a deal April 22 to purchase the property.
Attorney General Letitia James announced that the Bally’s Foundation, affiliated with the gaming giant that seeks to develop a casino complex at nearby Ferry Point Park, will buy Preston High School in Throggs Neck, securing the future of the all-girls institution that has served the community since 1947.
But following sustained public pressure from students, parents, alumnae and local officials — along with a high-profile public hearing on April 8 led by James — the Sisters changed course and accepted the deal. James’ office, which has oversight over nonprofit property sales, would not say whether the Sisters would have faced legal action for refusing the Bally’s offer.
“Preston High School is a pillar of the Bronx community that has educated generations of young women, and today I am proud to announce that the school will stay open for years to come,” said James in a statement. “I want to thank all the students, teachers, parents, alumni, and elected officials who submitted testimony to my office and advocated to keep the school open. Today’s announcement would not have been possible without their relentless advocacy and leadership.”
Under the April 22 agreement, Bally’s Foundation will purchase Preston’s waterfront property for $8.5 million, lease it back to the school for $1 per year on a 25-year lease with five-year renewals and pay up to $1.6 million for infrastructure repairs and legal and closing fees. Preston will have the opportunity to purchase in the future and right of first refusal if the foundation seeks to sell, and the school will continue to operate independently.
Under the new agreement, the Sisters will also be required to ensure Preston’s independence by establishing a new board and relinquishing its current three of six seats on the school’s Board of Trustees.
Elected officials who lobbied for Preston to stay open said they were relieved and grateful for the agreement.
“I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to Attorney General Letitia James for her swift and thoughtful action in helping to prevent Preston’s abrupt closure,” said City Council Majority Leader Amanda Farías, a 2007 Preston grad, in a statement. “Her open communication, leadership, and commitment to keeping all parties at the table were instrumental in reaching this critical turning point. As a proud Preston alumna, I’ve been deeply invested in this fight from the very beginning – organizing, advocating, and working directly with stakeholders to ensure Preston had a future.”
Assemblymember Michael Benedetto said he was “thrilled” that Preston will remain open. “This is a tremendous victory for the students, families, and the entire Throggs Neck community,” he said.
“From the very beginning, when families and community members voiced their concerns about the possible closure of Preston High School, I made it a priority to listen and support them,” said State Senator Nathalia Fernandez. “I’m truly grateful that Attorney General Letitia James took our concerns seriously and acted swiftly, resulting in an agreement to keep Preston open for years to come.”
Borough President Vanessa Gibson said it was “heartbreaking” when she first heard the news that Preston would be closing– much like several other Bronx-area Catholic schools. She too was relieved by the purchase.
Gibson thanked the Preston school community and residents for advocating that it remain open. “This outcome is a powerful reminder of what’s possible when a community comes together.”
In recent months, Preston supporters have held several rallies and launched a “Save Preston” social media campaign, and hundreds attended James’ three-and-a-half hour public hearing that featured 25 speakers in support of the school. Preston’s famous alum Jennifer Lopez posted on her Instagram Story on April 15 in support of her alma mater, saying she was “deeply moved” by those advocating against the closure.
The deal comes years after the Sisters tried unsuccessfully starting in 2019 to sell the property back to the school and determined Preston to be financially unviable due to declining enrollment and the high cost of property maintenance.
To those who love Preston, the agreement is a hard-fought victory, Farias said. “We didn’t just preserve a beloved institution – we protected a legacy,” she said.
A change of course
The news that Preston will remain open — and will adopt changes in governance to ensure the school’s independence — was met with immediate celebration by those affiliated with the school.
“This is more than just keeping a school open. It’s preserving a legacy,” said principal Jennifer Connolly in a statement. “It’s ensuring that young women in the Bronx will always have access to the quality, values-based education that Preston provides. We are overjoyed to share that Preston’s doors will remain open, not just for next year, but for many years to come.”
If the Bally’s purchase had not gone through, it is unclear whether the Sisters would have attempted to sell to a different entity or faced legal action from the attorney general for not accepting the offer. The Bronx Times reached out to the Sisters and have not yet received a response.
Since the closure was announced in February, Preston parents, students, alumni and officials never accepted the nuns’ assessment that the school was financially doomed. Though the Sisters pointed to declining enrollment numbers since 2012 and the high cost of maintaining buildings from the 1950s and even earlier, many said they saw no indication that the school was unviable and said enrollment for incoming students continued up until the closure announcement.
Some community members also raised concerns over the makeup of Preston’s board of trustees, which currently includes Sisters as three of its six members. Amid the fallout over the closure announcement, the Bronx Times found that alumni perspectives on the board and the number of members overall significantly dwindled over recent years.
The new agreement will bring significant changes to Preston’s governance. The Sisters will be required to help Preston become independent and approved by the Archdiocese of New York, and James will oversee the appointment of a new board of trustees with members not affiliated with the Sisters or employed by Preston. In addition, the Sisters must immediately relinquish all but one board seat and must give up that seat once the school is deemed independent.
By agreeing to sell to Bally’s, the Sisters also avoid questions about whether they would violate the law by closing Preston rather than selling or relocating.
John McCarrick, a Throggs Neck attorney who advised Preston in early negotiations with the Sisters, shared documents with the Bronx Times in which he argued that the Sisters would violate the lease if they shuttered the school because the existing lease is binding until 2027. He also argued that the nuns would reap more financial gain from closing than relocating or selling.
Immediately after James’ hearing, the Sisters expressed concerns that selling to the Bally’s Foundation could further undermine the school’s existence.
The Sisters said in a statement that Bally’s was “not a genuine solution” to the school’s enrollment and budget shortfalls. They said the foundation was “unwilling to commit to ongoing support for the school’s regular operations (beyond some initial repairs)” and expressed skepticism that the school would remain intact, saying that the foundation might “seek to monetize the property in the future.”
However, Bally’s chair Soo Kim maintained that the foundation was committed to keeping Preston in the community and sought the purchase to demonstrate good faith in light of its controversial casino-hotel proposal.
Now that the deal is done, saving the school is a win-win for the foundation, said Kim.
In a statement on behalf of the nonprofit, he thanked the Sisters, saying, “This agreement is about more than preserving a school—it’s about affirming the vital role that education, opportunity, and community play in shaping lives.”
“Preston has been a cornerstone in the Bronx for nearly 75 years, opening doors for generations of young women. The Bally’s Foundation is proud to stand with Preston’s students, families, and educators in ensuring that legacy continues.”
The casino proposal
Although the 501(c)(3) Bally’s Foundation is separate from the corporation seeking to build the new casino, it remains to be seen whether the Preston purchase will significantly move the needle as the company advances through the ULURP process and other steps necessary to approve what would become the largest private development project in Bronx history.
If the hotel-casino complex is approved, Bally’s has vowed substantial long-term investments in the East Bronx that go far beyond the Preston deal.
In a $625 million community benefits package, the company promised road improvements, funding for youth sports, police and security staffing, upgrades to public green space in Ferry Point Park and nearly 4,000 permanent union jobs, among other benefits.
Although the Bally’s proposal has gained local support for its promise of economic influx and union jobs for Bronxites, it also faces opposition from residents who say it would increase crime and traffic congestion and result in the loss of parkland.
Bally’s said in public meetings that their door-to-door outreach efforts showed approximately 80% support for the project among thousands of residents. Still, many remain unconvinced that it would benefit the borough.
Community Board 10 rejected Bally’s ULURP application to build on existing parkland by a vote of 29 to 5, and the issue went to Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, who held a hearing on April 9 and has yet to announce her support or opposition. Though these votes are advisory only, they may influence future actions by the City Council and mayor.
Most elected officials representing Throggs Neck have yet to say definitively whether they support the casino project but responded with collective joy to the news that Preston will remain open.
None were happier than Farías, who published a celebratory statement on Instagram immediately after the announcement with the hashtag #PHSYes. However, she struck a note of cautious optimism.
“While this progress gives us hope, the work isn’t over. We must now focus on securing Preston’s long-term independence and sustainability.”
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
