Mesa A College Town? Lessons Learned By Westminster College

Hmmm....just another one of those downtown transformation 'things' that didn't quite live up to expectations? Well that's a nice way to put it to say the least. Who failed to deliver what is not part of what could be a blame game, and it's not addressed in an article yesterday when Westminster College got some space to help make Mesa "a college town" and to fill up empty, un-used and unoccupied 52,000++ sq ft  in city-owned former police building re-named MESA CENTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION.

It was ideal to have been offered to ASU at that time, but perhaps the bright minds inside City had other plans back in 2012.
This article from yesterday puts a positive spin on that untold story. Here's an excerpt:

Westminster's Mesa campus closed within first year

Low enrollment created a $300,000 deficit first year

September 2nd, 2018 by Phillip Sitter

". . . Though the creation of the Mesa campus apparently did not cost Westminster College much financially, the school was still paying at least tens of thousands of dollars for its closure for years after, according to annual audits.

When Westminster entered a five-year lease with the city of Mesa in 2013 — the campus building was owned by the city — the agreement through July 31, 2018, carried with it extension and cancellation provisions, subject to penalties. . . "

". . . Westminster College's campus in Mesa, Arizona, was intended to be a financial booster for the main campus in Fulton, but the venture failed to live up to expectations and closed before it could become its own financial drain on the home school — after just one year of operation.
The city of Mesa had sent out an invitation for the campus, and the campus' start-up funds were covered through $10 million of alumni fundraising — so the effort did not put a direct financial strain on the college, . . "
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