EDMOND — Hobby Lobby buys historic Mass. school campus
NORTHFIELD, Mass. (AP) — The historic Northfield Mount Hermon School has sold one of its two campuses to an Oklahoma City-based retailer planning to convert it into a Christian-oriented liberal arts college.
Northfield Mount Hermon School head Thomas Sturtevant on Wednesday said Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. will pay $100,000 in cash for 217 acres in Northfield, invest $5 million to renovate the property and let the C.S. Lewis Foundation set up its first college at the site under terms of the deal valued at $20 million.
The sale will help the school save $1.4 million it has spent annually to maintain the campus since it was closed in 2005.
Hobby Lobby is a retail chain of more than 400 arts-and-crafts stores in 33 states owned by a family that believes in spreading Christian values.
The C.S. Lewis College is scheduled to open in 2012.
