Last week’s post on the questions raised by real estate deeds and other public records surrounding the FEMA funded purchase of the old Bay Tech Building on Second Street from 3 politically connected local business people unfortunately contained more questions than answers. Today I think we can answer those questions and peg the exact date the flip to the School District occured but first let’s visit with that first post Court documents raise questions about Bay-Waveland School District’s purchase of the old Bay Tech Building so everyone is on the same page:
You see folks the Bay Tech building flooded from Katrina and to my knowledge was never fixed. To buy it meant planning had to be done so surely we have other clues to help us hone in on a date. The June minutes have nothing of interest to note but the May 14, 2012 Board minutes contained an interesting blurb paying local architects for design work on a new administration building (Page 13). Given the payment application number and amount I imagine this was for a brand new building, not Bay Tech but for now I’ll leave that as an open question.
The documentary records from the MLS and the Deed indicate the listing agent sold the property to herself, son and her son’s business partner for $325,000 on June 8, 2012. Additionally press reports indicate the local school district bought the building less than 2 months later for $580,000. School Board minutes indicate negotiations began after the July 16, 2012.
I called Mr Bill Washburn, owner of Magnolia Group for comment and he confirmed the sale, sales price and listing realtor.
Implied but not said in that first post was the selling agent, Ms Mary Bunch did not notify her client she, along with her son and her son’s business partner were the purchasers of the property. I would like to clear that up by stating Mr Washburn tells Slabbed he was not notified of the clear ethical conflict inherent to the transaction. Continue reading “Bay Waveland School Board Minutes add color to the purchase of the old Bay Tech building”