It closed after 199 years. Now, for the first time in a long time, the future of Cazenovia College’s campus looks genuinely exciting.
A New Chapter for Cazenovia: Local Investors, $10 Million in State Money, and a Vision Worth Believing In
CAZENOVIA, N.Y., When Cazenovia College closed its doors in the summer of 2023, ending a 199-year legacy, the village of Cazenovia faced a question that no one wanted to ask out loud: what now? The college had been the community’s largest employer, home to more than 200 employees and 700 students, the heartbeat of a village that had organized itself around higher education since 1824. Losing it hurt.
But here’s what’s happened since. A determined group of local investors stepped up. The state of New York put its money where its mouth is. Local leaders rallied. And today, the 35-acre campus alongside one of Upstate New York’s most beautiful lakes isn’t a ghost town waiting for a buyer, it’s an active redevelopment with a real plan, real momentum, and real people driving it forward.
This story came from public records we pulled ourselves
Get the next one, plus overnight incidents, in your inbox at 6 AM. Free, no spam.
Meet 9 Fresh: The Local Group That Bought It Back
On December 18, 2025, a group of local investors called 9 Fresh completed their purchase of the Cazenovia College campus for $9.5 million, following a year-long process to bring the property under local ownership.
Leading the group is Kate Brodock, a venture capitalist who has been one of the most energetic voices in Central New York’s entrepreneurial and innovation community. Her vision for the campus isn’t a quick flip or a generic apartment complex, it’s a genuine, community-centered transformation.
“We’re really moving into execution now.”
Kate Brodock, leader of 9 Fresh
To help get there, 9 Fresh has brought in Oughtness Group, an Atlanta-based real estate development and investment firm that specializes in exactly this kind of challenge: redeveloping existing communities into vibrant, mixed-use neighborhoods. Their track record is serious, their previous projects include a $650 million redevelopment of Rochester’s Bull’s Head District, transforming a blighted community into a mixed-income urban neighborhood with 789 housing units, 34,000 square feet of retail, 60,000 square feet of commercial and workforce training space, and a 60,000-square-foot urban agriculture facility.
That’s the level of vision and experience now focused on Cazenovia.
What the Plan Actually Looks Like
The 27-acre main campus, right in the heart of the village, is being reimagined as a mixed-use community. The plan calls for:
- A business, innovation and tech district built from the existing lecture halls and instructional spaces
- Housing options including senior living, potentially repurposing existing dormitories
- Indoor and outdoor community spaces using the dining hall, historic village homes, and the campus theater
- Preservation of the historic exterior of the buildings throughout
Importantly, this isn’t a tear-it-down-and-start-over approach. Brodock has been clear that much of the redevelopment will be internal, keeping the architectural character that makes Cazenovia’s campus feel like it belongs in this village.
The Athletic Center: Open to the Community, and Soon
Adam O’Neill, a local real estate investor and owner of the 64 Albany Pub & Grille in Cazenovia, is part of the 9 Fresh effort and has specific plans for one of the campus’s most valuable assets: the athletic center.
The facility includes an Olympic-size swimming pool, a full gym and weight room, a turf field for lacrosse and soccer, and three tennis courts. O’Neill’s plan is to reopen it as a community-access athletic facility, open to Cazenovia residents, as soon as possible.
For a village that lost those amenities when the college closed, this isn’t a small thing. It’s the kind of tangible, immediate benefit that the community can feel right away.
The Equine Campus: 240 Acres with a Future
Cazenovia College was nationally recognized for its equine studies program. The 240-acre equine education center, located two miles west of the village, isn’t going anywhere, and it isn’t being converted into condos.
9 Fresh’s plan for the equine center is to continue equine activities while expanding into agriculture, lifestyle, and leisure uses. Think: a working facility with community programming around it, not an abandoned field waiting for development.
Gov. Hochul and the $10 Million Shot in the Arm
On March 6, 2026, Governor Kathy Hochul visited Cazenovia and announced that the village would receive $10 million in state funding, through the Downtown Revitalization Initiative and NY Forward program, specifically to boost economic activity in the wake of the college’s closure.
“Our downtowns keep New York State alive, and we are making significant investments to transform them into vibrant communities for New Yorkers.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul, March 2026
The money comes with flexibility, the village will develop a plan for how to spend it, with converting dorms into housing among the options Hochul specifically mentioned. For Mayor Kurt Wheeler, the announcement was a validation of what the community has been working toward.
“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, but this is a big step forward.”
Mayor Kurt Wheeler, Village of Cazenovia
Meanwhile, 9 Fresh has already put county and town government into the picture. The group sold Reisman Hall and Sigety Hall to Madison County for $1.9 million, the county will convert Reisman into the sheriff’s department administrative offices, training center, and eventually the 911 emergency dispatch center. The Jephson Campus on Albany Street was sold to the Town of Cazenovia for $1 million as the new town office.
Government buildings on the campus. County services in the community. State money flowing in. Local investors in charge. This is what a real recovery looks like.
Cazenovia Is Ready
The village of Cazenovia lost something irreplaceable when the college closed. The community that had defined itself through higher education for two centuries had to find a new identity almost overnight. That process hasn’t been easy.
But what’s taken shape since, the local ownership, the experienced development partner, the athletic center coming back, the state investment, the county and town integration, tells a story of a community that refused to let the closure be the last chapter.
The campus is still there. The lake is still there. The village is still here. And for the first time in years, so is real momentum. 🍂
CNY Signal will continue covering the Cazenovia College redevelopment as 9 Fresh and the Village move into execution. Have a tip or local angle? Reach us at [email protected].
