BECKLEY, W.Va. — West Virginia University says it wants to purchase the Mountain State University campus in Beckley for $8 million.
It extended the offer to MSU Wednesday, which said it would accept.
Mountain State lost its accreditation a few years ago and hundreds of former students sued the university. Money gained from the sell of the campus goes into a fund that will be distributed as part of that lawsuit.
“We’re very excited about the campus. But we also know we had to come up with something that was fair value and we could make work in the long term,” WVU Vice President of Legal Affairs Rob Alsop said. “It was a careful balancing act in coming up with what it would take to make this campus work and what the value of the campus is.”
WVU first entered into discussions regarding the purchase of the campus in November. An extension in those discussions ended Monday. Alsop said the university has spent the time researching Mountain State’s facilities and after also considering academic programming, student services, and economic impact, WVU Board of Governor members agreed to move forward with a purchase agreement.
“We still have some environmental and structural studies to do on the campus. We’ve gotten to the point where we want to make it happen unless we find something. So, we’ll start on those studies immediately,” explained Alsop.
WVU said it hopes to work with Concord University, Bluefield State College and other area higher education institutions, as well as civic and industry leaders, to develop pathways for collaboration for the Beckley campus.
“President Gee has talked often about our statewide mission. We’re really excited we can enhance educational opportunities with our presence in Beckley,” said Alsop.
While MSU’s board has indicated it would accept WVU’s purchase offer, a court ruling will still be in order following the lawsuit against MSU.
“We’re hopeful the court will approve the settlement and this offer so that we can come to Beckley. But, we’ve got plenty to do over the next coming weeks and months to make sure we pull this off and make it happen,” according to Alsop.
The Beckley campus is currently being used by the University of Charleston until June 30, 2015. Alsop indicated a deal could be closed by April 2015.
“Then we’ll start marketing, recruiting and finalizing our academic programs. All those things will take time. We’re probably looking at winter 2016, starting up in the spring semester, or more than likely the fall of 2016,” said Alsop.