Miles School has signed an settlement to purchase the 192-acre campus of Birmingham-Southern School—which closed abruptly earlier this yr attributable to monetary points—Al.com reported.
Although the acquisition worth was not disclosed, the campus was not too long ago valued at $65 million. Alabama A&M College had additionally expressed curiosity in shopping for it, reportedly providing $52 million for the positioning in Could after which $65.5 million in June, native media reported.
Miles, a traditionally Black school, is positioned lower than 10 miles from Birmingham-Southern.
BSC’s sudden closure got here after officers undertook a yearlong effort to maintain the campus open, which included laws proposed by BSC alumni to create a novel state mortgage program for struggling non-public faculties. Nevertheless, Alabama treasurer Younger Boozer III, who oversaw mortgage functions for this system, denied BSC’s request for $27 million. Birmingham Southern officers accused Boozer of undermining the Legislature and appearing in unhealthy religion in denying the mortgage; he argued that BSC represented a “horrible credit score danger” and lacked collateral. The school closed just a few months after the mortgage was denied.
Birmingham-Southern officers stated in an announcement they have been happy with the sale of campus.
“Our hope has been to discover a purchaser whose mission paralleled BSC’s mission of training younger folks for lives of service and significance, and whose presence on the Hilltop would additionally profit the encompassing communities who’ve been such good neighbors to BSC for greater than 100 years,” the school’s president, Daniel B. Coleman, stated in an announcement. “With its roots within the Methodist custom of service and its dedication to making ready younger folks for lives of management, Miles School matches that description. We’ll proceed to work diligently with [Miles College] President Bobbie Knight and her workforce to make sure a easy pathway to closing the sale.”
