Regard Recovery Centers, a Fort Lauderdale-based for-profit substance abuse treatment chain that has expressed interest in the former Wrangell hospital, has been waiting on a commercial appraisal of the building — and last week the borough said it’s found a company to do the work.
The borough is paying Anchorage-based Reliant $42,000 to appraise the value of the former hospital building as well as the former sawmill site at 6.5 Mile Zimovia Highway, Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore said last Thursday.
“The hospital appraisal quote was for $22,500 and the mill property quote was for $19,500,” she said Monday.
The borough on Feb. 23 made an offer of about $2.5 million on the 38-acre mill site, which was accepted. The sale closes June 1, said broker Bennett McGrath, of Anchor Properties in Petersburg, which represented the seller, Betty Buhler. Borough Manager Jeff Good said closure on the deal will come after the appraisal and a title search.
Regard Recovery, meanwhile, had been waiting on an appraisal of the old hospital before possibly submitting a formal proposal for the property, Capital Facilities Director Amber Al-Haddad said March 8.
The company has treatment centers in Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia, and last fall expressed interest in possibly converting the Wrangell hospital into its first location in Alaska.
Borough staff had solicited bids for the appraisal work at the hospital, but Good in his Feb. 8 borough manager’s report told the assembly “we didn't get anyone to bid on the appraisal on the old hospital.” Without a bidder, the borough negotiated with Reliant for the work.
Reliant now has the notice to proceed, Rushmore said Monday. “They are making a site visit at the end of March or beginning of April,” she said.
Rushmore said borough staff spoke with Regard Recovery representative Casey Odell last week, who told her the company is “working on some other projects” while waiting on the hospital appraisal report.
Odell did not respond to recent requests by the Sentinel for comment.
On Jan. 12, a couple of months after Regard Recovery first expressed interest in Wrangell, Odell said, “At this time, other projects continue to dominate the company's focus.”
Since SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium moved out of the old hospital in February 2021 the borough has had to keep the building viable for a future use. That means spending $100,000 a year to keep the vacant building heated, have staff go check on it, and pay insurance on the building, Al-Haddad said last fall.
“We have this large, 30,000-square-foot building that’s been sitting empty (since February 2021),” Al-Haddad said in November. “The borough has had it in the forefront of our minds since before it became vacant, as to what we would do once SEARHC vacated it. We haven’t yet come up with a plan. Until we have a plan, we have to keep that building viable to ensure that if there is future use of it, that it’s in good condition.”
Regard Recovery Centers would relieve the borough of that cost. The property would come on the tax rolls if owned by a for-profit company.
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