New Castle -- After years of back and forth with the town over building a seminary or women's center on its Armonk Road property, the Legionaries of Christ, the conservative Catholic order, has put the land on the market.
The decision to sell the 97-acre property, a former estate now used as a retreat center, comes as the order suffers financially in the wake of a scandal involving its founder. The Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, who died in 2008, was accused of sexually abusing boys and fathering children. Pope Benedict appointed a delegate in 2010 to reform the order.
A spokesman, Jim Fair, said the sale is for economic reasons. No sale price is being given.
"It really is a property that is beyond what we need right now," he said.
The order also has a conference, education and training center in Thornwood where priests and brothers pursue advanced degrees, according to its website. Next door is a 165-acre property where the Legion has pursued plans to build a Catholic liberal arts university called Westchester University. The university application has languished since hearings on environmental studies in 2008 but Fair said it is still an active project.
A website, www.773armonkroad.com, has been set up to market the New Castle property, describing the 45,600 square-foot manor home and extensive grounds. The Legion asked for proposals with a deadline earlier this year, but it didn't result in a contract. It also is considering a long-term lease.
Fair said the order is looking at a couple proposals but that he couldn't give any details.
The property, called Our Lady of Mount Kisco, is zoned for single-family homes on two acres but has a permit from the town to host retreats and marriage preparation classes. New Castle Planner David Brito said no one has been in to talk to the town about plans.
From 1995 to 2004, the order sought approval to transform the property into a seminary that would have housed 460 seminarians, faculty and staff, part of what was then a growing international organization.
Then in 2004 it put forward an alternative proposal for a center for 200 lay women from the affiliated Regnum Christi movement. It dropped the women's center plan in 2006 and reverted to the seminary plan, then withdrew the seminary plan in 2008.
Sharon Greene, a neighbor who has been following the proposals' ins and outs for the past 16 years, said she's glad the plans didn't go through.
A residential development would be more in character with the neighborhood, she said.
"From our point of view, I think it would be nice if some developer bought it and built 10 — at the most 15 — private homes," she said.
The Legion bought the old estate for $3.12 million from the Unification Church in 1994. Before that it belonged to Billy Rose, a theater producer and songwriter, and the Sisters of the Cenacle.
