Allentown School District Does This Make Sense?

ASD Approves $12M Building 21 Deal
Stephen Althouse | WFMZ (03/24/2017)

"The Allentown School District, yet again facing a significant financial shortfall, purchased Building 21 from developer Abraham Atiyeh during Thursday night's board of directors' meeting. The vote was 9-0.

In return for 11.55 acres of land and the building, located at 265 Lehigh St., the district will part with $12 million. The deal, between Basin Property Development LP and ASD requires a $200,000 down payment, followed by the remaining $11.8 million due at closing. The district had been leasing the building since 2015."

My CommentsLet me the first to say I'm not the brightest bulb on the marquee. Maybe someone can explain to me why this makes sense.

I did a search of Lehigh County Property Records. Here's what I came we up with...

Back in January 2017 WFMZ reported--"With the help of local lawmakers, including Pa. Sen. Pat Browne, Pa. Rep. Peter Schweyer, and Pa. Rep. Michael Schlossberg, the state's third largest urban district secured a $1 million state grant...

The cash will be used to renovate the high school building, Building 21, opened two years ago as an alternative learning center."

I'm not a financial genius but if I were looking to buy property I'd be reluctant to pay nearly 3x's more then it might be worth. Perhaps there's a logical reason I'm not aware of. Absent such a explanation it appears being a developer in Allentown really pays off!

Not only would taxpayers fix up my building while I collected rent--they'd turn around a give me nearly 6x's what I paid initially less then three years later.

Apparently I'm dumb as dirt not knowing all the facts OR something seems out of whack.

Can someone enlighten me why this makes sense--what am I missing?