Monaghan's Person Appreciates $1M

Yesterday, AveWatch reviewed Tom Monaghan's use of non-profit charities to self-stimulate his for-profit businesses. Today, we reconsider how Tom Monaghan's non-profit and for-profit activities are both directly benefiting his person, via his "Thomas S. Monaghan Living Trust".

In May 2007, AveWatch was the first to report how Tom Monaghan personally acquired 74.55 acres of prime Ave Maria Town real estate in November 2004 valued at $840,000. Given its proximity to what has become the largest construction site in America, Monaghan's privately owned land appreciated (unimproved) to $1,442,500 in 2006. That same year, Monaghan deeded 10 acres of that parcel to an AMU employee for $210,000. The 2007 Assessed Value of Monaghan's 64.55 acres is now at $1,862,550 (Folio No. 00138521008; Collier County Property Appraiser; see shaded area in image below).

tm_acreage_2007

His personally owned land in Ave Maria Town has appreciated over $1 million since he acquired it.

This personal asset appreciated in direct response to Tom Monaghan's own for-profit business activity (acting as Ave Maria Development LLC) and in direct response to his non-profit business activity (acting as Chancellor of Ave Maria University and as the Board Chairman of Michigan's Ave Maria School of Law - the Chairman who threatened to financially devastate his own institution if it refused to move 1,300 miles to his for-profit Florida real estate development... a move that directly benefits his personal land asset).

The following are also owned by the Thomas S. Monaghan Living Trust in Collier County:
+ La Piazza, Condo Unit 1302 - $596,500 (bought 2007, see shaded below)
+ 10047 Gulf Shore Dr. - 2007 Market Value = $3,579,778, (bought 1995)
+ 318 N. Storter Ave - 2007 Market Value = $457,432 (bought 2005)

tm_condo

As already stated on AveWatch, it matters not if Tom Monaghan gives his personal land holding, or the subsequent land appreciation, to fund a leper colony. The point is that Mr. Monaghan receives a direct and personal benefit from the management decisions that he makes with his tax-exempt charity and with his for-profit businesses. The conflict-of-interest is stunning.