No surprise, but the borough received no bids for the former hospital property. No one was willing to pay the $830,000 minimum price for the building, much of which is 55 years old.
It’s not like there’s a lot of value to the building, unless a new owner wanted to run a medical center or long-term care facility, which isn’t needed in Wrangell after SEARHC spent $30 million building its new medical center just a few blocks away.
Besides, the old building’s health records show a patient in ill health.
“Many of the mechanical and electrical systems are in failing condition and/or do not meet current codes and standards,” according to a 2018 report for the borough.
“Potentially hazardous materials have been identified in Wrangell Medical Center that will affect both ongoing maintenance operations, as well as possible future renovations or demolition. Those materials include asbestos, lead, polychlorinated bi-phenyls (PCBs), mercury and radioactive materials,” said a 2021 report.
And the 2022 property appraisal that set the value at $830,000 said, “The roof, mechanical, electrical and HVAC systems have reached the end of their useful lives.”
The same appraisal also noted, “For older improvements near the end of their economic life, demolition and replacement of the existing improvements with an alternative use may be the highest and best use of a site as improved.”
It appears the healthiest future for the old hospital property is not the wood and metal structure, its utilities, walls and windows — it’s the land.
Land that is in extremely short supply in Wrangell for building housing, which is desperately needed if the town is going to have a future for new residents, new workers to fill the long list of empty jobs, and families with children for the schools that have seen a steep drop in enrollment since 2019.
The borough should consider giving away the land for free, with the requirement that housing must be built on a negotiated schedule. New rentals and homes are far more important to Wrangell’s long-term future than the several hundred thousand dollars the borough might get, someday, maybe, if a developer buys the property.
Besides, the borough is spending almost $100,000 a year to insure and heat the building. Save the money; give it away.
Even with free land, a developer would still have to spend millions to demolish the old hospital, clean up the site to get it ready for housing, and construct new homes and rentals. Simply put, the land is no bargain, even at free, but it’s the most readily available large piece of borough-owned property in town — almost two acres — with road access, utilities and flat land. Though substantially larger, the borough-owned former Wrangell Institute property at Shoemaker Bay likely is years away from any housing development.
At this point, free land for housing, maybe even with property tax incentives and borough help with financing, could be the best use of the hospital property.
-- Wrangell Sentinel
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