Miles College President Bobbie Knight – on a high with the historic success of the school’s Division-II playoff football team – is “disappointed” that her request for a second extension of the purchase agreement to acquire the now-shuttered Birmingham-Southern College campus was not granted, she told AL.com.
Knight added, though, that she was not giving up. “We are not going to stop trying,” she said.
The 192-acre campus in Birmingham was placed back on the market on Monday, according to a press release from the BSC Board of Trustees, after the agreement expired at 3 p.m. The agreement was signed on Sept. 25 and originally scheduled to close on Oct. 25. Miles requested an extension to Nov. 25, and 10 days prior asked for a second extension to Dec. 25.
That request was turned down.
“I’m feeling fine,” Knight said. “Just have more work to do.
Knight would not elaborate on why Miles requested the extensions.
In the new release, BSC trustees stated: “The BSC community has great respect for Miles College, its students, faculty, staff, and alumni, and appreciates both the shared roots and the alignment of missions. But to meet its commitments to lenders and other creditors, the BSC Board of Trustees is obligated to sell the 192-acre campus property as quickly as possible.”
Birmingham-Southern’s financial troubles have been well-chronicled and extended long before March of this year when trustees voted to cease operations after failing to obtain a $30 million bridge loan from the state legislature, at the recommendation of the state treasurer.
It is unclear if the expiration of the purchase agreement will entice Alabama A&M in Huntsville to bid again for the campus. On May 1, it extended a $52 million offer ($22 million in cash, $30 million in “maintenance”), then later upped its offer to $65.5 million ($35.5 million cash, $30 million “maintenance”).
“As a public institution, we have a responsibility to the taxpayers of Alabama to have shown fiscal discipline with our offer as we operate under certain constraints,” Shannon Reeves, vice president of Government Affairs & External Relations at Alabama A&M, said at the time.
“With no deal in Birmingham, we will shift our resources to be invested on our main campus in Huntsville as we achieved record enrollment in the 2023-2024 academic year,” Reeves added.
Reeves did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AL.com.
