There’s no other rational way to spin this. CATS is throwing $771,150 at Andrew Segal of Boxer Property as part of the city’s efforts to do something with Eastland Mall. OK, to be technical, CATS is buying the land on which its transit station at Eastland sits. The lease is for $55,000 a year, which means the move pays for itself in 14 years if you assume the time-value of money is zero. Which it isn’t. If you assume a time-value of money of 5 percent per year, this pays for itself in more like 25 years.
And this is CATS we are talking about. Spending $771,150 to save $55,000 per year is its best use of funds when it’s trying to build a billion dollar light rail extension to UNCC? Really?
Bonus observation: You know the fix is in when everyone talks about how good a deal this is for CATS but pretty much ignores how long it will take for the purchase to pay for itself.
