Buffalo Academy of Science Charter School’s plan to occupy the former campus of Medaille University has come to fruition.
CBRE Upstate NY, representing the Office of the Institution Formerly Known as Medaille University, announced Friday that it has closed a deal to sell the 15-acre campus to Charter School Development Corp., a nonprofit developer based in Maryland that helps charter schools with real estate transactions.
CSDC will now work with BuffSci in a lease-to-own agreement.
“It is a proud and exciting day for all of us,” said Ismet Mamnoon, president of BuffSci’s board of directors, in a news release from the charter school.
The purchase price was $9.9 million, according to a BuffSci spokesperson. BuffSci’s partnership with the National Charter School Growth Fund will provide $2.5 million toward renovating the campus, the spokesperson added. Renovations are slated to begin Monday.
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The sale ends a seven-month process in which Medaille representatives aimed to sell assets to cover some of the estimated $41 million in bond and lease obligations that remained after the university closed.
Medaille University is seeking to formally dissolve so it can sell its 15-acre Buffalo campus to a charter school development company for use as a future home of a high-achieving Buffalo charter school, according to a petition filed this week in Erie County Supreme Court.
At a hearing last winter with the Buffalo School Board, BuffSci Executive Director Joseph Polat said he intended to move at least the high school to the vacant North Buffalo campus across the Scajaquada Expressway from Delaware Park.
The high-performing, tuition-free charter school – which has separate locations in Buffalo for a preschool, two elementary schools, a middle school and a high school – enrolls about 1,650 students.
BuffSci boasts an excellent graduation rate, 93% or higher for the last four years, and ranks in the top 10 among Buffalo public schools in state assessments in math and English language arts for grades 3-8, at about 40% proficiency in each. Its sister entity, RocSci in Rochester, adds two more schools under the charter school’s umbrella.
Medaille University enrolled about 1,800 students in 2019 before dipping to around 1,250 in its final two years. It closed last August under the weight of its debt.
According to Douglas Borzynski, BuffSci's Science, Technology, Engineering and Math coordinator, the robotics team – without administrative help – crowdsourced about $3,000 through GoFundMe to register for the finals and cover related costs.
“It’s bittersweet to see the campus officially change hands, but it is gratifying to know that CSDC and BuffSci will maintain the campus as a place of high academic standards for future generations,” said Michael J. Moley, chair of the board of trustees for the Office of the Institution Formerly Known As Medaille University.
CSDC’s website says its not-for-profit status allows it to “pass on cost savings to our charter schools, through lower rents, flexible lending terms and affordable purchase options.”
The sale should help those representing the former Medaille University to chip away at the debt, but recent news offers little consolation. According to S&P Global Ratings, Medaille University failed to repay by April 1 $546,000 in interest payments on two bonds, from 2013 and 2018, which lowered its bond rating from “CCC” to “D.”
News staff reporter Jonathan D. Epstein contributed to this report.
Ben Tsujimoto can be reached at btsujimoto@buffnews.com, at (716) 849-6927 or on Twitter at @Tsuj10.