Selling off land The university has also filed an application to work with real estate company Avison Young to advise on real estate strategy. Rogers had previously said the school is considering selling off peripheral parts of campus. The school will pay Avison Young a retainer of $50,000, according to court filings, plus a percentage of the sale price not to exceed $7.5 million. St. Augustine’s 105-acre campus is valued at approximately $200 million. “I’m hopeful that the path forward will not necessarily involve a wholesale sale of the property,” Behr said. “I don’t think that’s necessarily in the best interest of the debtor, at least currently. But the debtor likely does need to have that on the back burner as a possibility if everything were to fall apart.”
While this will hit hard on the students who intended to study, and for the staff who intended to work, this is correct step with regard and respect for them.
There is always a burn rate after an entity (company, non-profit, etc) files bankruptcy. It’s the job of the court, being aware of the burn rate, to balance the interests of the creditors against the possibility that the entity can emerge from bankruptcy and carry on. Having laid off nearly all the faculty and eliminated the student-driven costs, the burn rate of St Aug’s is relatively low compared to the debt that’s outstanding. This provides time to find the optimum path forward. Property sale is one way to satisfy the creditors, but that doesn’t necessarily put the university in a position to carry on – and there is a community that really wants the university to carry on in some respect TBD.
Closure and outright sale of the entire property is one scenario. Look at Birmingham Southern College in Birmingham, Ala., a primarily white liberal arts school with a good track record over the decades. After dwindling enrollment, the college failed financially although the Trustees decided to close before they reached bankruptcy. The entire campus (192 acres) was sold to the Coast Guard as a training facility.
Is there a scenario where Shaw would merge with St Augs? I imagine that Shaw sits on more valuable land. Sell all the Shaw land, then merge and move everything to the St Augs campus.
Don’t know enough about their individual issues, so not sure if that’s feasible or if there is history there between the schools that it would never happen. Maybe too much pride for either school to accept. But if the alternative for both is bankruptcy and shutting down…
I think Shaw is more prominent, bigger, and in less trouble, so I doubt they’d want to erase much of their legacy by taking over the ruins at St. Augustine’s. I still think the opposite idea would hold some merit, but there seems to be some delusional and very stubborn people involved that would rather drag this out indefinitely.
To me, Peace is the only one that might need a bigger campus, and I am not sure how badly they need that, after selling a chunk for seaboard station. In this age of consolidation and closures, I cant imagine anyone needs the space or wanta to take on the debt.
Yeah the only way I see this really working is it they sell it off. One grand scale developer would be preferable, especially if they could preserve some of the buildings and incorporate some of the history into a master plan. I would hate to see it sold off piecemeal over several years to 5 over 1 and McMansion developers who eventually turn it into a bland, unrecognizable area.
I think we will see the land north of the football field sold off - its about 20 acres, and possibly the land right adjacent where there is some student housing, which would add another 10 acres. Room for hundreds of housing units.
I’ve said it before, but with St. Aug’s history of just fantastic track teams, I think it would be awesome for the city/county to buy the stadium, and let youth running clubs use it.
According to court documents, the school wants to hire a real estate advisor to help make plans for redeveloping or selling its land.
The university would pay Avison Young-North Carolina a $50,000 retainer. The company would also receive commissions up to $7.5 million.
Can someone tell me why this would be better than an auction that doesn’t require paying $7.5 million in commission?
My understanding is that the owner of WRAL may have interest in the land, so I’m sure they wanted to spin this as negatively as possible. Doesn’t mean it isn’t negative, but I’d be open to understanding if the option was actually worth it or just another way to bleed the stone dry.