A local television station covered the groundbreaking last week at the Grand Traverse Academy, and quoted the charter school's Superintendent, Susan Dameron, who said "the project is costing the school around $3 million".
But readers of this blog know that the 29,700 square foot addition is actually being built by MDN Development, LLC, a business owned by the head of the school's management company, Mark Noss.
Noss, head of Full Spectrum Management, LLC, owns MDN Development, LLC, a private, affiliated property development company that recently inked a deal with the Grand Traverse Academy to construct the building on Academy-owned property and lease it back to the charter school — yes, it will sit on land owned by the Academy, and Noss won't pay a cent to use the land.
According to the terms of the 20-year lease, the “lessee (the Grand Traverse Academy) may exercise an option to purchase the building, fixtures and premises from the lessor (Noss) on February 1, 2019 for a sum of Three Million Nine Hundred Thousand Dollars ($3,900,000).”
If the school is unable to purchase the building from Noss in February 2019, and continues to lease the building through the 2036, total lease payments could exceed $8.5 million dollars.
But you wouldn't learn that by watching the local rah-rah TV coverage now, would you?