Yeah I’m not quite sure why it’s being done this way - which makes me suspicious. On the surface it seems to me like this is in effect an interest-free loan of $32M with the condition that Reading fix up the site and make it into something viable once more.
I guess the gotcha is that it would be an upfront cost for the WCC which is already having to make big cuts. You could also argue about the optics of having to pay Reading to actually do something with the site, and not just leave it derelict as they have done for the last several years.
But if this pans out, and helps reverse the decline of Courtney Place, then sounds like an okay plan.