BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) -- Birmingham-Southern College will be looking for new potential buyers after the purchase agreement between BSC and Miles College expired Monday afternoon.
A purchase agreement was announced on Sept. 25, with the closing date set for Oct. 25. At Miles College's request, the closing date was pushed to Nov. 25. BSC stated Miles College requested on Nov. 15 a second extension to Dec. 24, but BSC declined. The purchase agreement expired Monday at 3 p.m., according to BSC. The college closed at the end of May after years of financial trouble.
Here's the full statement from BSC:
The purchase agreement between Birmingham-Southern College and Miles College expired at 3 p.m. on Monday, November 25, 2024.
BSC has been working with Miles – a private, historically black liberal arts college located in Fairfield, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham -- since May to facilitate the sale of BSC’s 192-acre campus property. A joint letter of intent was signed on June 19, reflecting BSC’s commitment to working with Miles at the exclusion of significant marketing to other potential buyers.
A purchase agreement was executed on September 25, with the closing date set for October 25. That closing date was pushed to November 25 at Miles’ request. On November 15, Miles requested a second extension to December 24, but that request was declined.
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.
BSC will have no further comment on the details of the negotiations with Miles or with any other
Birmingham-Southern College
potential buyers.
This purchase agreement expiration leaves the future of BSC's campus once again up in the air. There have been a lot of questions about what's next for the property since the school closed in May -- many about who would buy the property.
Neighbors in the area over the last six months said they liked having an educational institution in their community to inspire people, but there have also been concerns from some that BSC's campus could become a site like Carraway Methodist Medical Center.
"The concern for the constituents is when the lights go all the way off," said state Rep. Juandalynn Givan (D-Birmingham).
Birmingham-Southern falls in Givan's district. She fought hard in the state legislature to help the school keep its doors open and has been vocal since its closure about making sure the space does not become an abandoned and forgotten property.
"A house or any building structure has to have life, and the buildings have no life," Givan said. "The longer it stays dormant, the greater the issues will be with the maintenance of bringing them up to a level that you can bring new bodies, fresh bodies onto the campus for whatever purpose. Whether it is a church, whether it is some type of housing development, if you're going to still use those structures."
Birmingham City Councilor Hunter Williams said BSC was part of the lifeblood of the western side of the city.
"I think that it's so important that we have something else that continues the legacy in terms of the economic development perspective of that institution on that piece of property in western Birmingham," Williams said.
Williams said large pieces of property -- from Century Plaza to Carraway Methodist Medical Center to Trinity Medical Center -- have historically been hard to sell around the city.
"What we don't want to see happen is to see a large amount of acreage or a large amount of capital in terms of buildings sitting vacant for an extended period of time," Williams said. "Because we don't want that to turn into some other sites we've seen across the city of Birmingham that have just taken so much more funding to get back online than if there was a smooth transition out of the gate."
CBS 42 reached out to Miles College several times Monday by phone and email for comment on the purchase agreement expiration but has not heard back.