Why is the North Carolina Railroad buying megasite land from Jim Melvin's megasite foundation?

"...the railroad has set aside $13 million to complete the purchase of 875 acres within the 1,550-acre megasite footprint, and will close on a majority of that acreage within two weeks. The remainder will be purchased "within the few months that follow," the letter says.

What does "set aside" mean?

Does it mean they are paying cash on hand,

or are they borrowing the money?

That should quell any talk by opponents of the site that the N.C. Railroad, which announced plans to buy the chunk of land from the megasite foundation in January, didn't have the dollars to follow through on the deal, Melvin said.

Why buy the land from the Megasite Foundation?

...The foundation is paying for Duke Energy to study how to bring power to the site and which route to use, a process the power company won't fund itself without a client ready to use the site, Melvin said.

Likewise, interchange planning — which is typically funded by the state when an end user is already in place — can move ahead because the foundation paying for the work, he said.

The foundation, who is selling land to North Carolina Railroad,

after the City of Greensboro already spent a couple of million on

"The DOT cannot spend any public money for speculative purposes," Melvin said.

WTF?

But Greensboro can for the benefit of some campaign contributors?

So does that mean that companies are now shopping around for megasites? Does Melvin know of an automaker who is now ready to kick the tires of a potential home for a new U.S. auto plant?

If Melvin knows of one, he's not saying. But as supporters have always argued, the site needs to be ready to go when one does come knocking, hence the flurry of activity.

If this isn't some kind of scam, I will apologise, 

but it looks like one

"We're confident that it's such a good site that we will eventually get a customer," Melvin said."


http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/2016/04/07/supporters-to-begin-marketing-greensbororandolph.html

Where did North Carolina Railroad, owned by the State of North Carolina

get the money to spend on a "speculative" investment 

North Carolina's DOT won't/can't drop a dime on because it's a "speculative' investment?