Experts: ASU's $140M Return on $28M 'Investment' in Omni Deal Screws K-12

Phoenix New Times
Stephen Lemons
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-state-university-omni-hote…

Arizona State University would like to take Sparky's trident to Attorney General Mark Brnovich's tuchis over the AG's legal objections to the university's multimillion-dollar real-estate deal with Omni Hotels.

The school is protesting an amended complaint Brnovich filed in state tax court last week — the latest volley in the AG's ongoing crusade to bring university president Michael Crow's vaunted "New American University" to heel. ASU released a statement accusing the pugnacious Republican of "cherry-picking" facts about the school's controversial plan to turn the land it owns at the southeast corner of University Drive and Mill Avenue into a swanky, 30,000-square-foot hotel and conference center.

Contrary to the suit's latest allegation that ASU is violating the Arizona Constitution's gift ban with $28 million in sweeteners to Omni, ASU insists the money is in fact an "investment" that would "yield revenue of approximately $140 million for the university."