In a move that surprises absolutely no one familiar with how money vanishes in this town, the Texas Tech University System recently confirmed they dropped a cool $3.5 million on Bart Reagor’s old mansion on 19th Street. You remember Bart, right? The guy currently trading his signature “Let’s Roll” catchphrase for a taxpayer-funded bunk in federal prison? Yeah, that guy. Tech decided his former estate was the perfect place to park our new Chancellor, Brandon Creighton, because nothing says “academic prestige” like a house built on the foundation of the most spectacular financial faceplant in West Texas history.
Naturally, Tech didn’t just pay the asking price. While the Lubbock Central Appraisal District—you know, the people whose entire job is to value property—pegged the place at $2.26 million, Tech’s Board of Regents decided to tip an extra $1.2 million. They’ve been playing coy about the details for months, hiding behind “executive sessions” and vague records requests, probably because it’s hard to explain to the rest of us why they’re paying a 50% premium for a house that sits close enough to 19th Street to hear every modified muffler in the city.
Don’t worry, though; they have a very professional excuse. Board Chairman Cody Campbell says the house isn’t just a house—it’s a “working resource” for fundraising and recruitment. They even plan to “curate” the residence with museum artifacts. Translation: They’re turning a $3.5 million frat house into a taxpayer-funded trophy room so they can invite donors over to sip expensive bourbon while pretending the “Reagor-Dykes” era didn’t end in a heap of FBI investigations and bankruptcy filings.
Isn’t it heartwarming to know that even when you’re a convicted felon, you can still count on the Texas Tech System to be your ultimate, over-asking-price exit strategy?
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