The planned $12.5 million sale of the former Wells College campus in Aurora will not move forward after the buyer failed to complete the transaction, according to reporting by The Citizen.
Attorneys for Wells College informed Cayuga County Court on Monday that the purchase agreement with the Hiawatha Institute for Indigenous Knowledge has been terminated after the organization failed to close on the property and did not cure its default under the agreement.
According to court documents cited by The Citizen, Wells College subsequently ended the purchase and sale agreement, bringing the proposed transaction to an end.
The Hiawatha Institute, a nonprofit organization that proposed transforming the 127-acre campus into an Indigenous college while redeveloping portions of the property for other uses, was selected as the winning bidder in January following a months-long sale process.
The sale was approved by Cayuga County Court Judge Darius Lind in April despite legal challenges from the Cayuga Nation and Wells alumna Harriet Higgins, who had also submitted a bid for the property.
Wells College closed in 2024 and has been working to wind down operations and dispose of its assets. The sale of the Aurora campus is considered a key part of that process, with proceeds intended to help repay funds borrowed from the college’s endowment.
According to The Citizen, Wells College’s attorneys did not indicate what steps the college will take next to sell the property. College President Susan Henking previously said the campus could be remarketed if an acceptable sale could not be completed. If those efforts were unsuccessful, the property could ultimately be sold at auction.
The former Wells College campus remains one of the largest properties being marketed in Cayuga County following the institution’s closure nearly two years ago.
