St. Augustine’s no longer seeking to lease entire campus. Here’s the school’s new plan
St. Augustine’s University is no longer seeking to lease its entire campus to a Florida-based developer, according to correspondence between the university and the state Attorney General’s Office obtained by The News & Observer.
Instead, the university will restructure the deal with 50 Plus 1 Sports to include less than half of its land.
The change comes after the Attorney General’s Office last week expressed “serious concerns” over the deal as the university initially proposed it. Under state law, the North Carolina attorney general holds the authority to review deals in which a charitable or religious organization, like St. Augustine’s, seeks to sell, lease or dispose of “all, or a majority of, its property.”
In a letter to lawyers for St. Augustine’s sent Jan. 27, Senior Deputy Attorney General Kunal Choksi wrote that the office was concerned that the deal could hinder the university’s “ability to continue to operate and fulfill its mission.”
St. Augustine’s informed the Attorney General’s Office this week that it intends to change the deal, according to an email sent by Special Deputy Attorney General Phillip Woods to the university’s attorney, Ted Edwards, on Thursday.
“We appreciate SAU and counsel’s conversations about the previously noticed transaction over this week, and we hope for SAU’s success,” Woods wrote.
The university first announced the lease with 50 Plus 1 in late November, and campus leaders have since expressed hope that the deal would show the university’s finances and future are secure. For more for than a year, St. Augustine’s has fought to keep its accreditation amid ongoing financial and governance issues.
Under the initial lease, 50 Plus 1 would have paid St. Augustine’s $70 million to lease the entire 100-plus acre campus for 99 years. That significantly undervalued the campus, which has been appraised at more than $198 million, Choksi’s letter stated.
It was not immediately clear from the email correspondence obtained by The N&O how much 50 Plus 1 would pay the university under the newly revamped leased deal, or what other terms would apply. But the new deal would not require the input of the Attorney General’s Office, given that it involves less than half of St. Augustine’s assets.
A spokesperson for St. Augustine’s did not immediately respond to The N&O’s request for comment on Friday afternoon.
The original lease agreement would have also posed risks to the university’s ability to access its own land, according to documents provided to the Attorney General’s Office and and obtained by The News & Observer.
According to those original documents, St. Augustine’s planned to sublease back a portion of the campus from 50 Plus 1 for its own use, but the university stood to lose access to its entire campus if it defaulted on that sublease agreement.
The lease would have also allowed 50 Plus 1 to borrow against the campus, including by taking out a mortgage, to fund the $70 million it intended to pay St. Augustine’s. And the university would have had little, if any, say over what 50 Plus 1 developed on the campus.
Some of the concerns from the Attorney General’s Office about the deal may not be addressed or remedied under the restructured agreement. For instance, the office expressed doubt in 50 Plus 1’s “financial ability to comply with its obligations to SAU and avoid default with its financiers.”
Formed in 2022, 50 Plus 1 has a short track record in development. The firm made a bid in 2023 for the redevelopment of Florida’s Tropicana Field, where the Tampa Bay Rays play baseball. But St. Petersburg city staff who evaluated the bid said the company “lacked experience as a lead developer” and that its plan lacked detail, The Tampa Bay Times reported.
This story was originally published February 7, 2025 at 3:12 PM.
