The borough has been trying to get the old hospital property off its hands for the better part of a year. After a $360,000 price cut and months of languishing on a public surplus website, the property has attracted its first potential investors.
Jim Freeman, chief development officer of California-based restaurant chain Jimboy’s Tacos, his associate California-based business consultant Kevin Jones and Jimboy’s Chief Financial Officer Erik Freeman shared their vision with borough officials and committees at the Jan. 12 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.
Their proposed use for the site? A high-end senior living center that could attract out-of-state residents.
“An independent senior living center is not a nursing home,” Erik Freeman told commissioners. “These are independent individuals, they don’t need assistance on a daily basis to live.”
The target customer is a middle to upper-middle class retiree who is “looking to leave the state that they’re in” for the small-town feel and recreational opportunities Wrangell offers, he continued. They’d be marketing to “a very niche type of individual.”
The 33,000-square-foot former hospital building, which has been unused since SEARHC moved out two years ago, has 14 patient rooms and 12 exam rooms. He suggested retrofitting the building to accommodate 20 to 37 guests in apartment-style rooms. The concept photos he shared with commissioners depicted high ceilings and mountain lodge decor.
The site’s proximity to town, the airport and the golf course make it an attractive candidate for this kind of development, explained Jim Freeman.
Jones and the Freemans have offered to pay $350,000 for the land and building —$120,000 less than the reduced asking price of $470,000, which covers only the cost of the land. At its Dec. 20 meeting, the assembly gave the borough permission to accept offers lower than the asking price if buyers intended to use the property for economic development purposes.
The offer also stipulates that the buyers would have 180-day due diligence period to complete feasibility studies and decide whether they plan to follow through on their offer.
The group’s initial construction cost estimates for the center come to $3.26 million.
The full development plan, however, encompasses more than just the hospital property. Converting the building into a senior living center is the first of five phases in the group’s proposal. Subsequent phrases include developing townhouses in the area behind the hospital, establishing greenhouses around the island that could sell produce to local stores, exporting seafood to retail outlets in the Lower 48 and building a processing plant that would convert seafood waste into fertilizer for export to farms throughout the nation.
Townhomes could alleviate the community’s housing shortage and attract young families to the island, Erik Freeman suggested, though “it’s going to cost a lot to develop it to get the image we feel is marketable for families to relocate,” he said. The estimated cost of Phase 2, the proposed housing development behind the hospital, is in the $6 million range.
Greenhouses around the island would provide “a great opportunity for Wrangell to grow some of its own produce,” he said, and he anticipates high demand for Wrangell seafood among restaurants in the Lower 48.
Jim Freeman has long-established ties to Wrangell. He’s visited regularly since 1980 and his son works here as a fisherman. “We’re not trying to change this area,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is fill a need.” His investment proposal was informed by the community’s needs for housing and job creation, he explained.
Phase 1, the senior center, would bring an estimated 11 to 15 jobs to the community, four of which would be full time and salaried.
The project timeline is not fixed, but Erik Freeman suggested that with the borough’s cooperation, “Phase 1 and 2 (senior housing and townhomes) could be developed certainly within five years.”
The presentations offered committee members and borough officials the opportunity to share “feedback, concerns, questions and ideas” before Jones and the Freemans submit a formal proposal to the borough, Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore explained to Economic Development Committee members in an email Jan. 9.
After the Jan. 12 presentation, Rushmore expressed concern that there might be inadequate parking for townhome and senior center residents and staff. She suggested that the group would have to seek a variance from the community’s strict parking requirements to make their design possible.
Planning Commissioner Don McConachie asked if the group’s seafood export plans would compete with local fishermen. Freeman suggested that they would not—“we’re looking at a different type of process than they’re dealing with,” he said.
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