UMB Bank Nabs Broward Charter School Building For $15M

UMB Bank, as trustee for bondholders, scored title to a Broward County charter school building through a $14.5 million in lieu of foreclosure sale.

An affiliate of a bondholders’ trust managed by Kansas City, Missouri-based UMB Bank acquired the former home of Championship Academy of Distinction High School at 3020 Northwest 33rd Avenue in Lauderdale Lakes, records and Vizzda show.

On Sept. 13, UMB Bank, on behalf of the bondholders’ trust, also separately filed a foreclosure lawsuit in Broward County Circuit Court against the entity that owns the Championship Academy of Distinction K-8 campus at 7100 West Oakland Park Boulevard in Lauderhill.

Both properties are secured by an $8.8 million mortgage backed by educational facilities bonds, the foreclosure complaint states. Championship Academy defaulted on the loan after failing to make mortgage payments since 2021, the lawsuit alleges.

In June, Broward County Public Schools terminated charter school agreements with the high school and the K-8 school, according to a separate lawsuit Championship Academy filed Sept. 22 against the school district.

Championship Academy representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

In 2018, Championship Academy acquired both properties for a combined $14.7 million, records show. Sitting on 3 acres, the single-story, 38,546-square-foot building that housed the high school was completed in 1975. The K-8 school’s two single-story buildings on a 4-acre site were completed in 1975 and 1990, records show.

According to Championship Academy’s lawsuit against the school district, the Florida Department of Education last year determined that the Championship Academy’s K-8 and high school were experiencing a deteriorating financial condition.

Broward County Public Schools allegedly unlawfully rejected a corrective action plan submitted by Championship Academy. The measures included giving the trust managed by UMB Bank title to the high school building in Lauderdale Lakes, and consolidating both schools into the K-8 campus in Lauderhill, Championship’s complaint alleges. The charter school company had also proposed restructuring the $8.8 million mortgage by having an outside investor buy out the bond debt.

The school district’s decision to move forward with terminating the charter school agreements could result in Championship Academy also losing the K-8 buildings to foreclosure, its lawsuit states.