The legal scuffle between the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) and Adelante Healthcare over a lease agreement has made its way to the Maricopa County Superior Court, ABC15 reports. EVIT, which discovered potential irregularities with the lease during an internal review, alleges that the 2011 leasing arrangement for a 45,000-square-foot building on their Mesa campus to Adelante was never approved by their governing board or voters as mandated by law.
Adelante Healthcare, operant of the medical facility in question, has responded with bewilderment and denial, articulating, in a statement to KTAR, they have been a committed partner to EVIT for years and did not expect the sudden litigation stance, especially considering that the company’s current leadership team was not involved in the initial lease negotiation and an independent review of the deal did not reveal any wrongdoing. On the financial side, while Adelante pays the building’s owner, Mesa Medical LLP, a monthly lease of $60,000, the latter only pays EVIT a monthly sum of $2,700 to lease the land, a figure cast into doubt by EVIT for not matching fair market rent values.
EVIT’s Superintendent Dr. Chad Wilson, highlighting the imperative to investigate concerns thoroughly, stated, “EVIT has not concluded anything nefarious has occurred, but it is our duty to report issues we have concerns with” as reported by KTAR. The implications of the lawsuit reach further than the legal battlefield, touching the partnership that has furnished low-income community members with comprehensive care since 2012 and also delivered a practical training environment for EVIT health students…