Everglades College Pays $30M For Keiser’s West Palm Campus

UPDATED, Feb. 14, 4:50 p.m.

Keiser University’s non-profit parent company bought the school’s West Palm Beach campus from a non-affiliated seller for $30.2 million.

Everglades College, which owns Fort Lauderdale-based Keiser University and Boca Raton-based Everglades University, acquired the two-building complex at 2085 Vista Parkway in West Palm Beach, records and Vizzda show. The buyer obtained two mortgages totaling $20 million from Amerant Bank.

The two-building complex is home to Keiser’s chiropractic medicine school, which Everglades College previously leased from the seller, according to Vizzda.

The seller is an affiliate of Fort Lauderdale-based Keenan Development Group, led by President Bill Keenan. In 2003, the Keenan affiliate acquired the property, but the deed does not list the sale price, records show. The two three-story buildings spanning nearly 100,000 square feet were completed between 2004 and 2006.

Mark M. Rubin and Bastian Laggerbauer with Colliers represented the seller.

Everglades College’s purchase of the office building comes as Arthur Keiser, founder of both universities, and his family members face Congressional accusations that they have received millions of dollars from the two Florida schools in violation of U.S. Department of Education regulations, according to The Washington Post. Everglades College is a non-profit company, and Arthur Keiser serves as its vice president, corporate records show.

A recent House Education Committee probe found that he lent Everglades College $321 million in 2011 to buy his namesake university, at that time a for-profit school, the Post reported. He has since been receiving payments and interest on the loan, and is still owed about $60 million, 2019 tax filings reviewed by the committee show. The tax records also show that Keiser-related businesses have received nearly $8.9 million in payments from Everglades College.

Last year, Keiser University affiliates sold two Fort Lauderdale office properties to Everglades College for a combined $57.6 million, records show. One building, at 1500 Northwest 49th Street, is Keiser University’s main campus.

Everglades College also owns another six properties in Palm Beach County, including the former West Palm Beach campus of Michigan-based Northwood University, which the non-profit bought for $25 million in 2015, records show.