Northfield Campus FAQ
Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., which purchased the campus in 2009 from Northfield Mount Hermon, intends to transfer the property to a Christian educational institution that has the financial means to take over and maintain it. Hobby Lobby continues to show the campus to interested organizations and remains in the process of evaluating dozens of proposals. No decision has been made.
On March 9, 2012, the board issued a statement about the campus.
“Preserving Northfield Mount Hermon’s mission and educational program is at the heart of everything the school’s board of trustees does. The board takes this responsibility seriously and acts carefully. Making the decision in 2009 to sell the Northfield campus properties to Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. was no exception to these principles.
Recently, the future of the Northfield campus has been the subject of discussion in the media and within the Northfield Mount Hermon community. We on the NMH board understand that many individual members of the school community feel strongly about the Northfield campus, and we respect their rights to hold and express their personal opinions.
As the owner of the Northfield campus, Hobby Lobby naturally has the right to determine the new user or owner of the Northfield campus. The NMH Board does not have the ability to control the way in which Hobby Lobby transfers its property.
Northfield Mount Hermon remains focused on its mission and on providing the best educational program possible.”
In 2004, the NMH Board of Trustees voted to consolidate to a single campus in Gill, Mass. After a thorough evaluation process, NMH sold the Northfield campus in 2009 to Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., an Oklahoma City-based corporation.
Hobby Lobby’s original plan was to gift the campus to the C.S. Lewis Foundation, which was to open a new college of “great books” and visual and performing arts in Fall 2012. Some time later, the opening date was rescheduled for Fall 2013, to allow the foundation more time to raise necessary funds. Since purchasing the campus, Hobby Lobby has extensively repaired, restored, and renovated campus buildings and infrastructure in anticipation of C.S. Lewis College’s opening.
The C.S. Lewis Foundation missed the December 31, 2011, deadline to raise the initial seed money for its new college. Consequently, the foundation lost its exclusive option to be gifted the campus by Hobby Lobby. The foundation continues its efforts to raise the necessary money and is among the organizations Hobby Lobby is considering.
Hobby Lobby is one of America’s fastest growing arts and crafts chains with more than 495 stores in 41 states, more than 18,000 employees, and $2.6 billion in sales. According to the company’s website, David Green began Hobby Lobby in 1972 with 300 square feet of retail space in North Oklahoma City. The company is privately held and has a consistent track record of supporting the missions of Christian educational institutions, including Zion Bible College in Haverhill, Mass., and Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla. Organizations wanting support for their missionary work seek out Hobby Lobby regularly.
NMH has no plans to be among possible buyers or recipients.
Hobby Lobby is a private, family-owned corporation, and the company is managing its selection process as an internal matter. NMH has no role in the decision-making process.
Yes, the agreement includes some restrictions. For example, it prohibits use of the land for a hazardous-waste treatment plant; transfer station; heavy industry, including fossil fuel or nuclear power generation; correction facility; or adult entertainment.
The sale included academic buildings and several faculty houses deemed necessary to start a college on the core campus. Also included were the bookstore building, Revell, Holton, the nursery school, and Moore Cottage. In total, the transaction included 217 of NMH’s 2,184 acres in Northfield. (NMH continues to operate the nursery school.) Please see the Northfield campus map for a visual representation of included properties.
Excluded were the Birthplace, Round Top, the Homestead, the golf course, the pool, the timberlands, 28 faculty residences, other land parcels, and the East Northfield Water Company. The school granted purchase options—for the Homestead, Green Pastures, the golf course, and 17 other faculty houses—that extend through December 2014.
At the time of the sale, NMH retained 90 percent of its land holdings in Northfield. As part of a sustainable long-range plan to manage these assets appropriately, the school has since sold several properties in transactions unrelated to the Northfield campus sale.
Hobby Lobby has demonstrated its interest in being a good neighbor, and has allowed NMH alumni and visitors to walk on the campus during the day. If the campus is given to another institution, access rights will be determined by the new owner of the campus.
Yes. Usage of the Auditorium for Sacred Concert is part of the agreement with Hobby Lobby and will continue with the future owner. Hobby Lobby is currently refurbishing the Auditorium by painting the facility’s interior and exterior and installing new flooring.
Hobby Lobby has invested millions of dollars preserving the campus, including restoring Sage Chapel and Stone Hall, repainting most buildings, replacing campus paths, cleaning Perry Pond, and repairing roofs and steam lines.
The Northfield Mount Hermon History Project has made a photographic and architectural record of the campus; developed an oral history project; and published Lift Thine Eyes, a book that honors the broad heritage of the schools, with emphasis on the landscape, the architecture, and the Moody legacy.
Sponsored by the NMH Alumni Association, Northfield School for Girls Alumnae Events have been created to honor Northfield traditions and reflect on the past, present, and future of NMH. The idea for this new series came out of the 2010 annual meeting of the NMH Alumni Council; alumnae volunteers envisioned the program.
The Northfield School for Girls Scholarship Fund was established to create a scholarship that provides financial assistance for a female student who embodies the spirit of the Northfield School for Girls—a young woman who possesses academic curiosity and dedication; who displays a strong work ethic; has great determination to succeed; and conducts herself with confidence, caring, and poise.
Many holdings of the NMH archives will continue to be housed in Dolben Library until the school determines what is best for their long-term care or until Hobby Lobby requests that they be moved. NMH Archivist Peter Weis ’78 oversees an extensive collection of archival material in the Schauffler Library.
NMH owns all of the monuments and memorial plaques on the Northfield campus, and is in the process of relocating and rededicating those that should move to the NMH campus and deciding which should remain in place. NMH has the right to maintain, repair, restore, remove, and replace any or all of these monuments and markers. Hobby Lobby may request that the monuments be moved.
The transaction has assured the preservation of the historic Northfield campus. NMH is avoiding significant maintenance costs while retaining forestland, most faculty residences, the golf course, and the East Northfield Water Company. NMH values the expense avoidance over 10 years at $15 million and the retained properties at $9 million. This does not include the savings associated with avoided future costs of capital renewal of 500,000 square feet of historic buildings or the $100,000 purchase price.
We estimate that Hobby Lobby pays about $400,000 in taxes each year to the Town of Northfield. This is a significant infusion of funds. If the campus were to belong to a nonprofit educational organization again, the properties would revert to the same tax-exempt status they held when owned by NMH.
The pool and golf course were not part of the sale, and NMH continues to operate them.
NMH has forged a positive relationship with Hobby Lobby. The school has found the company to be a good neighbor that is dedicated to preserving the Northfield campus. Hobby Lobby has a strong financial footing and a solid track record of investing in its properties. Hobby Lobby, as the owner of the property, will determine who the end user or owner will be.
No. Northfield Mount Hermon is, and will remain, Northfield Mount Hermon.
Update effective April 11, 2012.
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