Trustees approve 45-year lease of Lot 26 to Urban 6 Realty

At a Business and Finance Committee meeting of Austin Peay State University, trustees voted to approve a land lease for Lot 26 with Urban 6 Realty, authorizing university staff to execute a nonbinding letter of intent and to seek required state approvals.

The lease covers university-owned Lot 26 (the parking lot at Second Street and College Street, adjacent to the former Masonic building). Sharous Roopavar, vice president for finance and administration, told trustees Urban 6 Realty recently acquired the adjacent former Masonic building and intends to develop both parcels into an apartment complex and parking garage. Under the terms described to the committee, the lease would run 45 years with an effective average payment of about $50,000 per year; at the end of the lease the building located on university land would transfer to Austin Peay. The university will retain a first right of refusal if Urban 6 later offers to sell its building.

Roopavar said a draft lease and the nonbinding letter of intent were included in trustees’ meeting materials and that, upon approval, the university would execute the letter of intent and begin seeking approvals from the appropriate state departments. No substantive amendment to the presented terms was recorded in committee discussion.

The motion to approve the Lot 26 lease carried on a roll-call vote. The committee recorded affirmative votes from Trustee Cannata, Trustee Kimbrough, Trustee Johnson, Trustee McGinnis and Trustee O'Malley.

The committee did not take further action beyond approving the letter of intent and directing staff to pursue state-level approvals; any final lease will require the subsequent approvals Roopavar described.