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Monday, March 21, 2016

NCA = BCA: North Central Academy's Mancelona Building Title Transferred To Steven Ingersoll's Bay City Academy; Quit Claim Deed Registered February 29, 2016 In Antrim County.

BUILDING COMPLAINTS SPUR DISCOVERY: STEVEN INGERSOLL'S BAY CITY ACADEMY IN PROCESS OF ACQUIRING MANCELONA BUILDING! WHERE'S THE MONEY COMING FROM?

The now-defunct Concord Academy-Antrim (left), a Mancelona public school academy that went belly-up after its charter was not renewed by authorizer Lake Superior State University, had its program and students transferred to Steven Ingersoll's Bay City Academy on June 30, 2012.

The Concord Academy subsequently defaulted on its $2,180,000 municipal bond, with trustee U. S. Bank formally leasing the building to  the Bay City Academy. The short-term lease (effective as of August 1, 2012) was renewed twice for the succeeding academic years. 

The lease (at left) expired on July 31, 2015, and was not formally extended. 





The Bay City Academy continued to occupy the building and was required to “insure and otherwise protect the premises”. 

However, after reviving its Michigan corporate existence on January 25, 2016, the Concord Academy transferred the building's title to the Bay City Academy. It was registered in Antrim County's Register of Deeds office on February 29, 2016. 

According to documents filed by U. S. Bank, the Bay City Academy agreed to “occupy, protect, insure the premises” through the conclusion of the current school year. Its present plans for the 31,000 square foot building have not been disclosed, which in part relied on the renewal of its charter. Although the Bay City Academy's charter was scheduled to expire on June 30, 2016, it was renewed by Lake Superior State University in late November 2015 through June 30, 2018.

After readers commented about conditions at the Bay City Academy's Mancelona campus, the North Central Academy, alleging the “NCA is falling apart”, I did some digging. 

Comments that claimed “there's doors that don't even work, curtains over the bathroom stalls, leaking roofs, broken toilets”, certainly sounded like the Bay City Academy was not taking proper care of the building as it had agreed to do.

Michigan school inspections are handled by the State of Michigan's Bureau of Construction Codes.

If you have information about substandard conditions and you'd like to make a report and request an inspection, contact Charlie Curtis in the Michigan Construction Code office. 

Antrim County is not responsible for the inspection of school buildings, and a complaint must be submitted to Curtis via email and he will schedule an inspection. 

Here is his email address: curtisc1@michigan.gov.

Include the details of possible violations/noncompliance in the email: for example, the leaking roof, broken toilets, etc. 

If you have questions about how to proceed, I suggest you contact Charlie Curtis with your questions. 

As for the building's status, the title transfer was “non-recourse”, meaning the Bay City Academy was not required to assume responsibility for the the outstanding mortgage, and does not yet officially own the building. 

After the Concord Academy closed, the school property was shopped around by a commercial real estate broker, who listed the building at $890,000. 

The 31,000 square foot single story school building was built in 1998 and renovated in 2001. Located in Chestonia Township on 28 acres, the school includes an auditorium, a gymnasium, lunchroom and 19 classrooms.

It's likely Steven Ingersoll's Bay City Academy is required to make some type of monthly mortgage payments, and may be offered an opportunity to purchase the building. 

I've addressed those questions, along with others, to a PR representative of U. S. Bank, and will have an update as soon as possible.

3 comments:

  1. Wow, this is a crazy new development! If it is Bay City Academy's job to ensure that this school is protected and insured, why aren't these basic and essential needs being taken care of?

    Does BCA even pay anything to NCA in terms of a building lease? If not, then they are just using the building as a form of pure profit without providing any form of legally required maintenance. This is not legal at all.

    Have there been any students that have spoken up about this? Any parents? Any teachers?

    I'll bet the teachers are worried about their jobs to actually speak out.

    I wonder just how bad things have gotten there? I am curious to investigate this myself and I will gladly communicate this with the email link that you provided above. Count me in on that. Will others join me in this?

    From the sound of these other writers, things must be really really bad there.

    What is the background on this "Mr. Lynch" guy? Anything Miss Fortune?

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    1. http://glisteningquiveringunderbelly.blogspot.com/2015/10/irregular-expenditures-2015-audit.html

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  2. Back in 2014, when I visited the school, the teachers and staff complained about the conditions there and how nice BCA was compared to NCA. BCA even had the "new stuff" and NCA received nothing. The turn-over of teachers may be a sign of how happy/unhappy their staff is there!

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