George Robinson is a financial executive with Martinez Enterprises. Although George Robinson has not had any formal training in

finance or accounting, he has a "good sense" for numbers and has helped the company grow from a very small company

$($ $$486,000$ sales$)$ to a large operation $($ $$43,740,000$ in sales$).$ With the business growing steadily, however, the company needs to make

a number of difficult financial decisions in which George Robinson feels a little "over his head." He therefore has decided to hire a new

employee with "numbers" expertise to help him. As a basis for determining whom to employ, he has decided to ask each prospective

employee to prepare answers to questions relating to the following situations he has encountered recently. Here are the questions.

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$($a$)$

In $2024,$ Martinez Enterprises negotiated and closed a long$-$term lease contract for newly constructed truck terminals and freight

storage facilities. The buildings were constructed on land owned by the company. On January $1,2025,$ Martinez took possession

of the leased property. The $20-$year lease is effective for the period January $1,2025,$ through December $31,2044.$ Advance

rental payments of $$776,000$ are payable to the lessor $($owner of facilities$)$ on January $1$ of each of the first $10$ years of the lease

term. Advance payments of $$437,000$ are due on January $1$ for each of the last $10$ years of the lease term. Martinez has an option

to purchase all the leased facilities for $$1$ on December $31,2044.$ At the time the lease was negotiated, the fair value of the truck

terminals and freight storage facilities was approximately $$6,759,000.$ If the company had borrowed the money to purchase the

facilities, it would have had to pay $11\%$ interest.

Compute the present value of lease vs purchase. $($Round factor values to $5$ decimal places, e$.$g$.1\mathrm{.}25124$ and final answer to $0$ decimal

places, e$.$g$.458,581.)$

Should the company have purchased rather than leased the facilities?