University of Phoenix officials say the Springfield campus is among the 25 campuses and 90 instructional centers that will be closing as new students are no longer accepted.
Spokesman Ryan Rauzon said the for-profit university, which operates 200 sites nationwide as the flagship university of Apollo Group Inc., expects the 1343 E. Kingsley St. campus to phase out in 2013. He said currently enrolled students could continue to take courses at classrooms in Tuscany Court, noting most students were enrolled in Phoenix’s five-to-six-week courses through midyear.
The school’s decision comes weeks after Midwest Property Investment LLC acquired the 28,800-square-foot Tuscany Court building. Outside of anchor University of Phoenix, Advanced Laser Clinics is the only other tenant in the building, where 11,700 square feet already is available for lease.
University of Phoenix, centered around online education, targets working professionals, and the Springfield campus offered degrees in business and management, criminal justice, health care and technology, according to its
website.
In Apollo Group’s fiscal fourth-quarter results, the Phoenix-based company cited a decline in University of Phoenix enrollment for its 11 percent decrease in net revenue to $996.5 million for the quarter ending Aug. 31. Apollo said University of Phoenix enrollment dropped by 14 percent during the quarter, compared to June–August 2011.
Ross Murray of R.B. Murray Co., the commercial real estate agency that listed and sold the property, said University of Phoenix was in a multiyear lease, though he declined to disclose the terms. It is unclear whether the school will honor its lease agreement.
Murray said neither he nor the new buyers were aware of the school’s plans to phase out its campus operations at the time of the deal.
Midwest Property Investment is a partnership of property investors Todd Johnson, a Shelter Insurance agent, and Ken Straus, whose family owns Subway stores in the area. Tuscany Court was listed for $2.9 million, but those involved with the transaction declined to disclose the purchase price.
The partners are currently investing in exterior improvements such as painting the facade and striping and sealing the parking lot.
Developer Bill Jester, who died in 2010, built the office structure for more than $1 million in 2001 and signed University of Phoenix to a seven-year lease in mid-2004, bringing the property to 100 percent occupancy at the time. Following Jester’s death, Stillwater National Bank and Trust LLC took possession of the building. The property was owned in 2012 by Greenwich, Conn.-based SW Tuscany Court LP, according to Greene County assessor records. The county assessor appraised the property for $3.09 million this year.[[In-content Ad]]
