The only thing which has really changed with these sales is the date of them I think? Wasn't the big move out of Brooklyn, and the sale of the property, meant to have been 2017? But now they're moving even faster, which gets the money to them a year or thereabouts sooner.
Cynical me would look at the timings of their appeals for money and announcement of cuts and wonder if they've been deliberately done before the next big property sell-off hits the news though...