For 60 years, ever since the 29-story Jamaica Towers was built in 1964, Jamaica Plainers – especially Jamaica Pondsiders – have jealously guarded the air space over the Pond.

Of particular concern has been the 229-foot drumlin known as Spring Hill because it is the source of the Muddy River, but since 1946, it’s been known as Hellenic Hill when Hellenic Greek theological seminary bought it.

In 1976 the then Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) designated 25 acres of the Boston slope as an urban wild.

Hellenic Hill and Jamaica Pond form a complete ecological and scenic relationship unique in all of Boston’s parks.

Pondsiders were recently startled to learn of the college’s intentions to sell the hillside in 2011 when the college listed the campus for sale at $18 million, and Critterion Development was interested.

At a packed public meeting at Jamaica Plain First Church in April 2011, the college heard loud and clear that the only option was conservation.

A JP group, Community Caring Institute, went so far as to write to the Christian Orthodox Church at Constantinople and a secretary for Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew replied to Allison Yoos of the Institute:

“His All Holiness appreciates your concern for the beautiful city of Boston… and is also touched by your vigilance to control development in the area of the Emerald Necklace” although the secretary acknowledged the Patriarch had no jurisdiction over the sale of the hill.

Things calmed down and the threats to the hill seemed to evaporate until November 28, 2025 when the weekly Greek American newspaper The National Herald broke the headline: “School of Theology to Sell Historic Campus for Millions.”

Kevin Moloney of the Jamaica Pond Association tipped off The Bulletin to the story the same day.

“The Holy Cross Orthodox School of Theology,”wrote Theodore Kalmoukos in The Herald, “in Boston is on the verge of selling a large portion of its real estate holdings [from 19 to 25 acres] for between $22 million and $30 million. A final decision is expected on Tuesday, Dec.9.”

“It is already in discussions with the interested buyer, the Lyme Timber Company.”At the same time, according The Herald, the school plans to change from a seminary to a “Holy Cross university.”

“Lyme Timber,” the Herald wrote, “is a recognized conservation investment firm… In this project Lyme serves as the intermediary for anonymous philanthropic foundation that will acquire the land, hold it temporarily and transfer to the Trustees of Reservations for permanent protection.”

According to its website, the Hanover, New Hampshire-based company “raises capital in pooled private equity funders which it invests as the general partner.”

Quoting a Hellenic College board member, The Herald wrote, “One-point-two-million-dollars per acre translated into $22 million -$30 million in unrestricted funds. These proceeds will significantly increase our endowment and advance our priorities in teaching, scholarships and faith functions.”

Word got out fast; within days the Boston Business Journal, Banker and Tradesman, Universal Hub and later The Boston Globe ran the story.

It was also a hot topic at the Dec. 1 Jamaica Pond Association meeting where the word “timber” in the Lyme name made everyone nervous; opinion ranged from skepticism to suspicion, but no course of action was suggested.

Columnist Theodore Kalmoukos, writing in the Dec. 5 National Herald (published in Long Island, Queens), came right to the point:“Sell out of the Theological School,” he wrote.

“The revelation that Holy Cross Orthodox School of Theology is on the brink of selling a large portion of its real estate for $22 million to $30 million has ignited intense reaction in the United States.”

“Messages have poured in—persistent, incredulous, and innumerable—from clergy of every rank and from lay people who cannot fathom that the School has reached such a desperate point that it is preparing to sell its land…. As for Archbishop Elpidophoros, chairman of the Board of Trustees, he is once again preoccupied elsewhere, residing in Athens.”

“The claim that the land will be sold only to an environmental company is laughable. Once sold, the property leaves the ownership of the school– forever. This land was preserved for decades by the Greek-American community… purchased through sacrifice, savings and relentless fundraising by Greek immigrants… ten dollars at a time.”

“Selling it would be irreversible betrayal,”Kalmoukos wrote.

There is a backstory.

HCHC was, for a time, in danger of losing its accreditation by the New England Commission of Higher Education.

As reported in the Feb 21, 2022 issue of Hellenscope, the Commission sent a letter to the college on January 14, 2022 “that recognized the progress made by the school including the enrollment of 110 students (although below projections).”

The commission decided to remove the “Notice of the School in Danger” but replace it with a “Notice of Concern.”

According to Hellenscope, in its letter “The commission noted that to achieve its goal to become debt-free, Hellenic College plans to repay all borrowing with the sale of excess real estate and that the institution expects to begin negotiations through the first quarter of 2022.”

The commission wanted to know “how the sale proceeds were used to strengthen the institution.”

“Hellenscope has noted in the past that the value of this real estate (59 acres!) in the most valuable area of Boston-Brookline is extremely high, up to $500 Million!”The April 6, 2022 Holy Cross College newsletter wrote that the college had paid off the $5.3 million mortgage on the seven acres of the Barletta parcel [on which the Prince Street ranch house is located] made possible in part by a gift of $2.5 million by Michael Huffington.

The parcel was acquired in 2006 to provide opportunities for expansion and to protect against development, wrote the newsletter.

According to school president Demetrios Katos, as reported in the Greek News of Dec. 5, 2025: “This opportunity advances our educational and spiritual goals and represents the best use of the land through mandatory deed restrictions that prohibits future development.”

According to the Dec. 9 Globe, Lyme and TToR recently collaborated in conserving 2,000 acres at Pelham and Belchertown, in the Quabbin Reservoir region.

However, Katos told The Globe that “the Tuesday vote is not binding and the board has not reached a final decision.”