The University of Michigan Board of Regents approved the purchase of 49 private properties at a price tag of $75 million dollars. This is part of Phase 2 of the university’s Central Campus housing project.
Everyone in attendance at Thursday's meeting voted for the acquisition, except for one abstention: Regent Ron Weiser. He purchased the properties located north of Elbel Field between South Division Street and South Fifth Avenue. He is now selling them back to the school at no personal profit.
The properties will be used to create more on-campus housing for students.
Prior to the vote, RegentJordan Acker praised Weiser, a Republican, for putting his money where his mouth is.
“As a Democrat on this board, I get asked sometimes by people, 'How could you work with Ron Weiser?' And the answer is this. It's that there’s nobody who’s more dedicated to the current and future success of the university than Ron.”
Phase 1 involves building a residential dorm with about 2,300 student beds with an estimated cost of a half billion dollars. The details of Phase 2 have not yet been disclosed.
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