Owner Wants to Give Away Green Mountain Campus

The former Green Mountain College campus is hitting the market. The price tag? Free.

Owner Raj Bhakta—who bought the campus for $4.5 million in 2020 after the college closed in 2019—wants to give away the property in rural Vermont, Seven Days reported. Bhakta, a distiller and former contestant on The Apprentice, a reality show that starred Donald Trump, launched a website seeking proposals and is specifically looking to hand the campus over to someone with “a vision aligned with the revival of the United States and Western Civilization.”

Bhakta specified in a news release he wants it to go to a “Catholic mission-based organization.”

Interested parties must “recognize this must first begin with the spiritual revival of our Christian faith. It will be upon coherence with this mission that candidates will be judged,” according to the site. While Bhakta is not looking to sell the property, the website notes, “It will cost at least $1 million a year to operate the campus”; it encourages recipients to budget $1.5 million annually to “maintain existing infrastructure” and to “catch up on deferred maintenance.” Potential beneficiaries “must be able to demonstrate sufficient resources to maintain the property.”

The campus is located in Poultney, Vt., on the western side of the state, and estimated to be worth more than $20 million, according to the news release, which indicates that ideal uses for the property would be for Catholic education, retreats or mission centers. The property includes approximately 115 acres and multiple academic and residential buildings.

The deadline for interested parties to submit proposals is March 31.