A convent that Katy Perry and a restaurateur are battling to buy will remain vacant, according to a court ruling Tuesday.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant accepted an offer from entrepreneur Dana Hollister, who wants to transform the convent into a hotel and restaurant project, to make payments to a small order of elderly nuns while lawsuits over the sale of their former home are pending, according to the AP.
The businesswoman will continue to pay $25,000 a month plus maintenance expenses on the hilltop convent, which Los Angeles’ Catholic archbishop wants to sell to Perry.
Hollister had previously agreed to purchase the property from the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary for $15.5 million, but Chalfant voided the sale in July, declaring the deal “clearly invalid.”
However, the archdiocese argued that its own agreement to sell the convent to Perry — for $14.5 million in cash — is legally sound.
Despite her desire to buy the property, the “Roar” singer, who did not attend Tuesday’s hearing, is unwilling to pay the high rent price.
“This property is a nice property, but it’s kind of a white elephant property… it needs work,” Judge Chalfant said.
The Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary have owned the property in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles for more than 40 years, but they haven’t lived there recently and only five elderly sisters remain alive.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for October.