Historic Vermont campus offered free to Catholic nonprofit by donor

The owner of a historic 155-acre Vermont college campus is looking to give it away to a suitable Catholic nonprofit at no cost.

Raj Peter Bhakta, a whiskey entrepreneur and former contestant on “The Apprentice,” has announced his intention to relinquish the former Green Mountain College campus and surrounding land in Poultney, Vermont, to a qualified Catholic mission-based nonprofit organization.

“I felt five years ago when I bought the place that there was something more important that God was calling me to do with my talents and capacities than business alone,” Bhakta told EWTN News. He said he had originally hoped to turn the abandoned campus into a debt-free work-agriculture college himself but found the task to be more work than he anticipated.

Bhakta, a Catholic, said he also realized that “the biggest need in civilization was not necessarily another trade school” but rather “a spiritual revival,” which he said is necessary for the U.S. “to turn itself around.”

Finding an organization that will use the campus to this end by following the Catholic faith, he said, “is the highest and best use that I could possibly achieve for the place.” Bhakta said his vision for the campus is for it to foster “long-term faith formation.”

“If we want the future, we have to get the young,” he said. “I think what the young people are looking for is something that is not a lukewarm version of our faith, which is in vogue in many places, but the stiff old brew of the Catholic faith.” He further emphasized the need for would-be recipients of the campus to be dedicated to the pursuit of “capital T” truth “that’s not mitigated by politically correct terminology.”

Bhakta said the recipient will need to display the financial capacity to maintain the property. Rebuilding, he said, “will easily cost $200 [million] or $300 million.”

So far, he said there have been more than 20 applicants, some which he described as “quite inspired and interesting.”

If no applicants prove suitable, Bhakta said he plans to sell the property.

Bhakta is also the founder of BHAKTA Spirits and WhistlePig Whiskey.

The entrepreneur announced in a Feb. 17 release that he is seeking a Catholic entity “with demonstrated leadership, vision, and long-term operational capacity” that can maintain the property’s yearly expenses of about $1.5 million.

The release said eligible recipients include dioceses, religious orders, Catholic colleges or seminaries, and faith-based nonprofits or apostolates for the more than 500,000-square-foot property. It also cited satellite campuses, classical schools, youth, family or clergy retreat and formation programs, and Catholic outreach, arts, or cultural centers as ideal uses.

March 31 application deadline

The entrepreneur and hopeful donor is inviting prospective recipients to vie for the Georgian-style brick campus situated along the “crystal-clear Poultney River” by submitting a proposal through a website by March 31. According to the website, interviews and negotiations are scheduled to take place in early April, with the recipient to be announced on April 20.

“Estimated to be worth in excess of $20 million in value by prior Maltz Auctions assessments, the offered properties present a rare chance to repurpose a historically rich, aesthetically beautiful, and strategically located campus for meaningful Catholic mission, education, and service,” the release said.

Green Mountain College was founded in 1834 and includes several academic buildings, dormitories, a library, a gymnasium, as well as surrounding land and nearly a mile of river frontage. The campus is also within walking distance of the historic downtown Poultney.

“This is not just a gift of architecturally remarkable buildings — or even of [a] historic, singular campus site originally founded for Christian purpose[s] nearly two centuries ago,” Bhakta said in the release. “It’s a gift of opportunity — the chance to revive a campus for mission, formation, and future generations of the Catholic Church.”