Up until last month, 7320 St. Charles Ave. was the location of a convent for the Dominican Sisters of Peace. Now, the sisters are now requesting $2.1 million for the building, and Loyola plans on footing the bill.

The university has its sights on purchasing the convent, also known as the Levy Mansion, which is located next to the Loyola-owned Fabacher Mansion on the Broadway campus.

In an email to faculty and staff on Oct. 16, the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J. announced that the 5,973-square foot building offers several advantages, including a strategic location, an adjacent parking lot with 15 spots and an agreement with the Sisters to give Loyola the “exclusive” opportunity of first purchase.

“This is not an opportunity any forward-thinking business would pass up,” Wildes said in the announcement. “Therefore, the Board of Trustees has approved the university purchasing the building for nearly $2.1 million.”

The university will purchase the building with the expected $3 million they plan to receive from the pending sale of Loyola’s property in Kenner, which Wildes said he expects to come to fruition by the end of this calendar year.

Bernard Cook, a history professor and Loyola historian, said that the land in Kenner was gifted to the university by donor J. Edgar Monroe when Loyola’s former president, Fr. Patrick Donnelly, S.J. planned to move the school there in the 1950s.

The plan ultimately fell through.

“Loyola has been selling the land parcel by parcel at least since the 70’s,” Cook said. “This is something Loyola has profited from over a period of 40 years or so.”

The Sisters have already sought out other living arrangements for those who stayed in the convent, said Sister Judene Lillie A’68, an archivist at the Dominican Sisters’ motherhouse on Broadway.

Lillie said that the leadership of the Dominican Sisters used the building when it was first purchased as a part of St. Mary’s Dominican College. When the college was closed in 1984, Loyola annexed the Broadway campus, but allowed the Sisters to maintain ownership of the convent.

“When Loyola purchased the college, they also purchased the surrounding land that the building lies on. So, when we decided we weren’t using it, they had a right to request that they wanted to buy it,” Lillie said.

Loyola currently has no set plans for how the building will be used.

“The university is continually making decisions that make sense for Loyola’s future,” Wildes said in his announcement. “As we move forward with long-term plans for the future of the Broadway Campus, the use of this building will be determined.”