A land lease deal between Saint Augustine’s University and the Florida-based real estate firm 50 Plus 1 Sports is stalled pending a review by the North Carolina Attorney General’s office, according to the university.
Last month Monti Valrie, a managing partner of 50 Plus 1 Sports, told INDY his company had signed a 99-year lease on all 105 acres of SAU’s campus and planned to build a mixed-use development on 55 mostly-empty acres, leaving the main campus undisturbed. According to Valrie, 50 Plus 1 plans to pay SAU $70 million up front for the land and eventually share the revenue from the development with the university in a 65/35 split.
The deal came along at a critical time for SAU. The Raleigh HBCU faced budget cuts, layoffs, tax liens and a lawsuit brought by alumni and former trustees in 2024, and incurred millions of dollars of debt. Its accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), voted in December to remove SAU from its list of members for the second time in as many years, citing a laundry list of financial and governance issues.
The university plans to appeal SACSCOC’s decision in February and will remain accredited while that process plays out. Losing accreditation would be catastrophic for SAU, cutting off its access to federal dollars and instantly devaluing the degrees it confers.
The SACSCOC appeal timeline adds a sense of urgency to the land lease deal. A $70 million check from 50 Plus 1 Sports could go a long way towards demonstrating that SAU is on a path to financial sustainability and helping them regain accreditation—but only if it arrives by early February, in time for SAU to present it as evidence in its appeal to SACSCOC.
Before any money can change hands, the attorney general’s office is legally required to review the land lease since SAU is a nonprofit and the lease involves all or a majority of its property.
The AG’s office confirmed to INDY in mid-December that it had begun the review, but has declined to provide any further updates.
Demarcus Williams, a spokesman for SAU, told INDY that the school has sent “two rounds of responses” to questions from the attorney general’s office since December, but has not received a decision.
According to the NC DOJ website, the review can take up to 60 days once the AG’s office has all of the information it needs—including the finalized contract, proof it is legally binding, “information about [SAU’s] debts,” relevant board meeting minutes, and “identification of any actual or potential conflicts of interest.”
As the clock ticks towards SACSCOC’s deadline, SAU has taken the irregular step of calling on the university community to contact attorney general Jeff Jackson and governor Josh Stein and urge them to expedite the approval of the land lease.
“Its approval is paramount to SAU’s financial stability and long-term sustainability,” the university wrote in a press release.
Meanwhile, some SAU community members are wondering if there is a good reason the approval is taking so long.
“Does 50 Plus 1 have a proof of concept?” wondered Steven Williams, an SAU alum, founder of Falcons Unite, and member of the Save SAU Coalition, in a conversation with the INDY this week. “Have they built any [mixed-use development like this] anywhere?”
Valrie declined to comment on behalf of 50 Plus 1 Sports.
Chloe Courtney Bohl is a corps member for Report for America. Reach her at chloe@indyweek.com. Comment on this story at backtalk@indyweek.com.