Today’s government land purchase abuse comes from Dearborn, Michigan.

It’s not ED, but I’m not sure what I would call it other than shameful – it is a Municipality purchasing a property at what can only be described as “grossly over market.” It smacks of inside-dealings and chicanery. Commercial real-estate in the Tri-County area has been very flat for the last few years, despite the real-estate boom.

Here is the deed transfering title to the abandoned building for 3.35 Million dollars.
The Detroit Free Press reports that research indicates that the property was purchased by the grantor in the above deed for 1.8, or something like that, a few years ago, and it has remained in disrepair, and vacant, for the interim.

The tax-paying citizens of Dearborn are being taken to the proverbial woodshed on this deal.