Say What? Here in Mesa Wilkes University Ending Face-To-Face Classes

You probably won't find this story in a press release from the City of Mesa Newsroom MesaNow.org [your MesaZona blogger always wondered why a city-owned facility called itself 'a non-profit' with the designation dot.org but that's beside-the-point] in this morning's first post.
An article by Michael P. Buffer / Published: March 10, 2017 from an out-of-state Pennsylvania-source brought this local news home here to The New Urban Downtown Mesa.

Grand Opening Celebration with Scott Smith, City Manager Chris Brady

Is it a question of online learning beating-out old-school real estate requirements for a satellite branch-campus location or something more? 
Apparently the 'E' in ex-mayor Scott Smith's 2012 H.E.A.T strategy for economic development downtown has been overtaken by the 'T'. Advances in technology have reduced or eliminated the need or demand and costs for actual physical space to conduct education. 4 out of the 5 universities recruited by H.E.A.T. have chosen to leave downtown in spite of generous offers by the city to fill empty or under-used city-owned properties - it just didn't work, except for Illinois-based BenU that was struggling to enroll students until the four-year goal of about 500 was declared achieved in 2016.

The Mesa Center for Higher Education where Wilkes University has operations-space until May, recently filled some available as-needed physical space by re-locating another city econ div strategy called Launch Point into the former 82,000-Sq. Ft. Police Complex at the SEC of 2nd Street/Morris
  
Wilkes University will end face-to-face classes at its Arizona site after this semester ends in May, but the same curriculum offered at the site will continue through online classes, university spokeswoman Vicki Mayk said.

Currently, 77 students are enrolled at Wilkes in Mesa, Ariz., including 34 undergraduate students taking both face-to-face and online classes, Mayk said.
Wilkes first came to Mesa in 2012 as part of a city initiative to increase college opportunities and spur economic growth. The university does not have any other sites outside of Wilkes-Barre, Mayk said.
The change in Mesa will help the university reduce costs “because our need for classroom space is eliminated with the transition to online delivery, and the university is also moving recruitment and marketing from Mesa and having those functions handled here in Wilkes-Barre,” Mayk said.
The university will retain one full-time tenured faculty member in Mesa, and the other full-time faculty member there is retiring, Mayk said. That retirement was planned and is not tied to the change, she said.
“Many of the classes in Mesa were taught by adjunct faculty members, and they will continue teaching the online classes,” she added. “Three recruiter positions in Mesa are being eliminated with moving the recruitment function to Wilkes-Barre.”

Contact the reporter Mike Buffer
mbuffer@citizensvoice.com
570-821-2073, @cvmikebuffer