UMich regent donates $30M days before "reopen" decision -- he is largest landlord in Ann Arbor. Wow!

[Anonymous]

What a read this is.

U-M staffer accuses one of Ann Arbor’s biggest landlords of pushing for school to reopen amid pandemic

Why the push to reopen the campus? According to a Michigan Daily op-ed published last week written by a U-M staffer who was granted anonymity in exchange for candor, the University's decision was guided by one of Ann Arbor's biggest landlords.

When the decision to reopen the school was made, U-M's Board of Regents was chaired by Ron Weiser, a billionaire megadonor of President Donald Trump. Of course, as a landlord, if the Ann Arbor campus was closed, Weiser would take a huge financial hit.

It gets worse. According to the anonymous op-ed writer, Weiser donated more than $100 million to the school in recent years — including a $30 million gift in the days ahead of U-M's decision to reopen. The writer calls this "one of the biggest conflicts of interest imaginable between public health and private wealth."

https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2020/08/31/u-m-staffer-accuses-one-of-ann-arbors-biggest-landlords-of-pushing-for-school-to-reopen-amid-pandemic

https://www.michigandaily.com/section/opinion/op-ed-university%E2%80%99s-summer-lies

[Anonymous]

Hopefully they’ll use some of that $30M to reinstate retirement match for their healthcare workers.

[Anonymous]

Why would he need them to open? Kids sign their leases months in advance. Whether they open or not, landlords get their rent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would he need them to open? Kids sign their leases months in advance. Whether they open or not, landlords get their rent.

Very large % of kids and families would not pay for 12 months of an apartment they don't use. Is a billionaire university trustee going to sic bill collectors and lawsuits on 1,000s of university students? The increase in late-minute apartment leases alone probably covered that $30M gift.

[Anonymous]

Neighbor kid is a freshman and moved there middle of August. The school kept telling them all summer they were a go for school so maybe just a weird coincidence.

She left mid August so I guess they had kids quarantine for 2 weeks?

[Anonymous]

So many sociopaths in the world.

[Anonymous]

Of course he's a Trump mega donor as well...

[Anonymous]

Not really seeing this one

If campus remained empty, wouldn't that hurt smaller landlords, allowing him to gobble up even more properties at depressed prices? A billionaire like this basically finds ways to make money somehow no matter what.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not really seeing this one

If campus remained empty, wouldn't that hurt smaller landlords, allowing him to gobble up even more properties at depressed prices? A billionaire like this basically finds ways to make money somehow no matter what.

+1 Unless he decided to be generous and let kids out of their annual leases all landlords would be paid the annual rent -- regardless of whether school is online or hybrid like Michigan. Indeed at most of schools with online only the large majority of upperclassmen have returned to the college area (or never left) precisely because the rent is a sunk cost that cannot be abated regardless of what the school decides.

Additionally, for a billionaire, the few students who would beat there leases in a single town is not even a rounding error oh his balance sheet. Such a stupid conspiracy theory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would he need them to open? Kids sign their leases months in advance. Whether they open or not, landlords get their rent.

Very large % of kids and families would not pay for 12 months of an apartment they don't use. Is a billionaire university trustee going to sic bill collectors and lawsuits on 1,000s of university students? The increase in late-minute apartment leases alone probably covered that $30M gift.

Off-campus apartments in college towns are snapped up MONTHS in advance. Desirable apartments are often signed for in October/November for the following year.

Leases aren't magically different in college towns.

[Anonymous]

That seemed like a very strange op-ed. It's not like Michigan made a decision out of line with what other large (and small) universities have done. A lot of classes are virtual. It seemed like more of a political attack on the Regent than anything else.

[Anonymous]

+1. Someone got excited over a story she didn't really have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would he need them to open? Kids sign their leases months in advance. Whether they open or not, landlords get their rent.

Very large % of kids and families would not pay for 12 months of an apartment they don't use. Is a billionaire university trustee going to sic bill collectors and lawsuits on 1,000s of university students? The increase in late-minute apartment leases alone probably covered that $30M gift.

if there is a signed contract, the agreement still requires payment, or else they can be sued for damages. I really don't see this as a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Maybe the $30M was to help with the additional costs of keeping kids and staff safe on campus (like testing, ppe, extra cleaning supples...). I'm fine with that.

[Anonymous]

He’s a real estate guy - he’s leveraged out the wazoo, even if he is a billionaire. If his real estate assets stop producing rent, the entire house of cards will fall.

It’s also not just about the housing. He probably owns a ton of commercial RE too, which is already being slaughtered. He likely can’t juggle defaults on both commercial and residential RE.

If schools didn’t reopen, He’d lose a ton of properties to the banks and would go into an asset fire sale. The value of university-owned real estate would also plummet, including income producing RE.