[Correction (March 3, 2024): A previous version of this article cited a piece from the Vassar Quarterly titled “Revealing Arlington” to describe the College’s representation on the Arlington BID. This source incorrectly described the means of the College’s representation; the fifth paragraph has been adjusted accordingly. Additionally, the previous version stated: “ACI left Blue House as student housing and none of its residents were asked to leave, but its neighbor at 18 Lagrange was not so lucky.” This paragraph has been edited to include a quotation specifying the reason for the eviction, which had not arisen in the interview process.]
Vassar College owns 74 distinct parcels of land throughout Poughkeepsie, equal to roughly 932 acres. These plots include the main campus, the Preserve, athletic fields and many homes on the edges of campus. The College also owns several undeveloped plots that do not abut the campus.
Vice President for Finance and Administration Bryan Swarthout wrote via email to The Miscellany News: “The College has acquired a number of small parcels that are contiguous with each other.” However, multiple parcels owned by the College are not contiguous, such as 189 Manchester Rd., a roughly three-acre empty plot, and 147 Hoffman St, an undeveloped strip three miles from campus that runs next to the train tracks along the Hudson River.
Not all of Vassar’s real estate holdings, however, are under its own name. Since 1999, the College has maintained College Properties LLC, a for-profit company that owns a little over one acre of commercial property near campus. College Properties LLC’s main holding is the building 60 Raymond Ave, which extends from La Vickyna Latin Fusion to Savona’s Trattoria and Bar. The company also owns the empty lot to the right of Crafted Kup and two nearby properties on Lagrange Avenue. When combined, College Properties’ holdings are a nearly contiguous acre of land in the heart of Arlington’s business district; the only building missing from College Properties’ possession is 50 Raymond Ave, between 60 Raymond and the empty lot, which houses New Nelly’s Restaurant, Twisted Soul and Gladmore Cleaners. Vassar’s 2023–2024 endowment report noted that the college had invested $3,886,702 in marketable real estate in 2024.
Deputy to the President and Secretary of the Board of Trustees Wesley Dixon told The Miscellany News by email: “This practice is common for higher education institutions that have off campus real estate to make the purchases through an entity like this.” Swarthout noted, “We are now working with community members on and off campus to imagine what could be developed there that would benefit the community… Our goal is to enhance the existing area with a walkable, vibrant addition that mixes residences and retail, with a large amount of affordable housing.”
According to written correspondence with Vice President of Communications Victoria Grantham, through College Properties’ property ownership, the College has a seat on the board of the Arlington Business Improvement District (ABID), an organization that since 2001 has worked to revitalize the Arlington area. Swarthout has served as the ABID Treasurer since 2014.
ABID emerged from the Arlington Revitalization Steering Committee, a group of College administrators, property owners and residents who began meeting as a private group in 1998 to counter economic decline in Arlington. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, suburbanization had slowly eaten away at the Arlington business district, causing decreasing reinvestment and business activity, deteriorating public infrastructure and rising retail space vacancy rates. ABID, a public entity, replaced the Steering Committee in 2001 and began levying taxes in 2003; for over two decades, the College has had at least a partial hand in tax collection on Arlington business owners. In an email to The Miscellany News, ABID President Ross Hardisty wrote, “Taxes are a decision made by the Town Board.”
College Properties is not the only private real estate company in Arlington that Vassar has a stake in. Through College Properties, Vassar is invested in Arlington Capital Investors LLC (ACI), another company that owns Arlington properties. While the College is not directly affiliated with ACI, College Properties is a partial equity investor with a 50 percent investment in the company. According to New York State’s Department of State, Division of Corporations, ACI is owned by Teahan & Constantino LLP, a Dutchess County-based law firm that specializes in tax, business and estate planning and administration law, in addition to real estate transactions. However, ACI’s real estate acquisitions are managed by TCD Management Corporation, a real estate property management company. In 2023, TCD worked with Vassar directly to manage the construction of additional faculty housing.
David Kaminski, who owns TCD with his wife, Jennifer Berlind, told The Miscellany News by email, “TCD is under contract with Arlington Capital Investors LLC (ACI) to provide the property management services for the properties owned by ACI.”
Swarthout also noted: “Vassar has partial ownership of Arlington Capital, which is a partnership with local business owners in acquiring and considering development in Arlington. It is a shared decision making process that includes engagement with the community.”
ACI owns nine parcels of land in Arlington totaling just under 1.5 acres, all of which are in close proximity to the Vassar campus, including both commercial and residential real estate. ACI’s first five purchases, from July 2021 to December 2022, are spread throughout three blocks on Collegeview Avenue, Lagrange Avenue and Fairmont Street. But on Oct. 31, 2023, ACI purchased three properties on the same day abutting College Properties’ holdings—the building occupied by Pizzeria Bacio and House of Nutrition, the Barber Haus and the residential 18 Lagrange Ave.
On Jan. 1, 2024, ACI purchased 16 Lagrange Ave, a house often leased to Vassar students, colloquially known as “Blue House.” ACI left Blue House as student housing and none of its residents were asked to leave, unlike its neighbor at 18 Lagrange. Karun Krishnamurthy ’24 wrote an article in The Miscellany News about the experience last March. A Blue House resident from Summer 2023 to Spring 2024, Krishnamurthy told The Miscellany News, “Basically what ACI did was evicted all the tenants in [18 Lagrange Ave], which really sucked… They gave them, like, three months notice, but it still sucked.” Krishnamurthy recalled that one resident had been living in the house for 10 years; another returned from visiting family in another country to find they no longer had a place to live. Grantham wrote: “Upon taking ownership of the property, Arlington Capital Investors found it was in such bad shape, and had so many code violations, that they couldn’t allow people to continue to live there. That is the only reason people were asked to leave. ACI tried to work with every tenant who was willing to work with them to help them find a new place.”
Krishnamurthy worried that because ACI’s recent acquisitions border one another, the company has established a large plot of land fully under their control. Krishnamurthy noted, “They have basically that parking lot, the Barber Haus, Blue House and [18 Lagrange Ave], which is essentially a pretty big surface area, so they could build something pretty big if they wanted to, and evict all the people.” Carmen Skinder ’26 expressed a similar worry: “The College is really interested in expansion to keep the place open, I guess, and make more money, but they’re also reaching the limits of the current Vassar-owned properties in their name.” She added, “Which raises the question of, ‘What do they plan to do with these properties that they’re purchasing in quick succession that are all next to each other?’”
Furthermore, ACI’s block of property borders College Properties’ acre of nearly-contiguous property. When combined, Vassar has at least partial control over almost all of the nearly two acres of property from Crafted Kup to the Barber Haus, save for two buildings.
Combining the holdings of Vassar College, College Properties and Arlington Capital, the College has full or partial ownership of nearly 90 properties in Arlington and Poughkeepsie. Swarthout explained: “We also hope the development in Arlington will provide new revenue that could support Vassar’s educational mission.” According to Vassar’s income tax forms, the College made a total of $1,694,122 through rental income in 2022.
Some students have expressed concern about the impact of Vassar’s investments on the surrounding community. “Through all of this real estate purchasing, there’s this merging of public and private interests, in which the College, all of a sudden, has a lot more say in the governance of Arlington,” said Skinder. “Their idea of a better Arlington is more about business improvement and gentrification, rather than the people who’ve been living here for 20 years.”
Vassar’s real estate purchases do not seem to be over. In a Feb. 17 email to the student body recapping the BoT’s most recent meeting, Chair of the Board of Trustees Sharon Davidson Chang ’84 P’19 and Dixon wrote: “The Board heard a presentation from Vice President of Finance and Administration Bryan Swarthout and Deputy to the President Wesley Dixon about future development plans in Arlington.”
Dixon wrote, “Our goals are to create more housing density in Arlington (including workforce housing), create commercial opportunities that align with the Town of Poughkeepsie’s goal to strengthen Arlington as a hub in the Town of Poughkeepsie, and to create an environment that includes dining, entertainment, shopping, affordable housing and community connections options for the broader Vassar and Hudson Valley communities.”