by Mick Rhodes | editor@claremont-courier.com

The Claremont Colleges Services announced last week it has finalized the purchase of the former home of the Claremont School of Theology for $7.7 million, with escrow closing November 15.

The news ends more than eight years of acrimonious litigation between the parties.

Some years ago CST rejected a TCC offer of $14 million for a 10.6 acre piece of the 16.4 acre parcel, a plan that would have also included TCC renovating 87 of CST’s existing housing units. This was followed by the near decade of litigation, with the courts ultimately deciding a 1957 land agreement between the parties CST had argued was invalid was in fact legally binding, and setting the final sale price — for the entire 16.4-acre property — at $7.7 million.

Laura Muna-Landa, TCC’s assistant vice president for communications and community relations, said though it’s too soon to know what the colleges will build on the property, one thing is clear: “We have repeatedly said that if you go back to the 1957 agreement, that was land that was provided by Ellen Browning Scripps, and there was always a provision that the land would always be used for higher education purposes,” Muna-Landa said.

Scripps donated the land to the Claremont Colleges nearly 70 years ago.

“The careful planning and development of this property are expected to bring substantial benefits to the TCC community, contributing to the collective institutional mission of delivering high-quality education,” Muna-Landa wrote in a statement. “Further details on the specific plans for the property will be shared as the planning and evaluation phases progress.”

Muna-Landa said there are a number of issues that will need to be addressed before announcing TCC’s future plans for the property.

“TCC’s immediate priority is to conduct a thorough assessment of the property, identifying and addressing all existing health and safety issues to ensure that the property meets the proper standards for the well-being of all members of our community,” she wrote. “We understand that many portions of CST’s former campus have not been recently occupied or maintained, and an assessment of occupiable space is required. A comprehensive strategic planning effort will follow, guiding the future development and use of the North Campus property.

“It hasn’t even been a week yet, and we’re in the mode of assessing things,” Muna-Landa said. “And there are a number of things that have to be addressed up there. We didn’t even know the extent of what needs to be done up there. We did our first walk through on Monday and … it’s a lot.”

After 66 years on Claremont, last year the Claremont School of Theology moved to Westwood United Methodist Church, 10497 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.