St. Augustine’s University Accepts Attorney General’s Demands
Proposed $70 million deal is being changed.
By Cash Michaels –
Officials at St. Augustine’s University (SAU) have capitulated to the demands of the NC Attorney General’s Office.
The school’s $70 million 99-year land lease agreement with Florida-based developer 50 Plus One Sports required prior approval by the NCAG office because SAU is a nonprofit.
The proposed deal is being changed so as to pass legal muster in time for a Feb. 27 hearing that SAU officials are scheduled to have with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission of Colleges (SACSCOC) to have its probationary accreditation returned to permanent status.
By showing SACSCOC that it has now made a financial agreement that will satisfy its reported $32 million in debt (including several million in back taxes to the federal government), SAU hopes to demonstrate that it has its financial house in order to assure its stability into the future.
But getting the NC AG’s sign-off on a financial arrangement that will help SAU achieve that goal is the next obstacle it must overcome.
Plan Undervalued Land
The original agreement had 50 Plus One Sports paying SAU a reported $60 million by the end of 2024, followed by another $10 million by June 2025, in exchange for a 99-year lease agreement. Published reports say after the Attorney General’s office rejected that $70 million deal because it involved virtually all of SAU’s 100-plus acres of property and severely undervalued the property by $128 million. SAU officials are going back to the drawing board, reportedly selling only half of the historically Black private university’s acreage.
AG Demanded Changes
“Based on our review of the documents submitted thus far, we are concerned about SAU’s ability to continue to operate and fulfill its mission if this proposed lease agreement is finalized without substantive improvements,” wrote Senior Deputy Attorney General Kunai Choksi to school officials in a recent letter.
That letter also expressed Choksi’s concern about “SAU’s ability to continue to operate and fulfill its mission if this proposed lease agreement is finalized without substantive improvements.”
What the new assessed land value will be, and how long the new land lease agreement will be for, is still to be determined. But once those new numbers are agreed upon, SAU officials are expected to notify the NC AG’s Office with the details, in hopes that they will get approval in time for the Feb. 27th SACSCOC hearing.
