The borough assembly is making another attempt at selling the former hospital property. It contracted last month with a real estate agent who will search near, far and wide for a buyer willing to pay the asking price of $470,000 — or anything close.
Last year, the borough’s efforts to sell the building and land produced no down payments at the original minimum of $830,000. The assembly later cut the price in hopes of enticing someone to take ownership of the 30,000-square-foot building and almost two acres of land.
It would be great if the borough could sell the publicly owned property, which has sat unused for more than two years since SEARHC moved into the new Wrangell Medical Center. But, until the borough can transfer ownership of the decades-old building, it is spending about $100,000 a year for heat and insurance.
Despite the assembly’s best intentions to get something for the property, it’s time to look at a backup plan if the real estate agent can’t find a buyer willing to write a check.
The building has asbestos, which means a costly cleanup before anyone can do anything with the property. It is configured as a hospital, which means extensive and expensive remodeling to make it useful as anything else — or a teardown and new construction. Until then, it’s a $100,000-a-year borough expense that is not going away. And besides, each year it remains in municipal ownership is another year of no property tax revenues.
The backup plan for turning over the property to private ownership should address the town’s biggest need: Housing. Without housing, people can’t move to Wrangell. Without new workers, businesses can’t stay open and provide the services their customers want. Without enough housing, the town will stagnate.
The assembly should look into the option of offering the property for free if a developer would sign a contract, promising to build rental housing.
Though some residents may bristle at the idea of giving away public property for “free,” it actually could be a profitable transaction for Wrangell. The borough would start collecting property taxes; it would stop paying for heat and insurance; demolition and construction work would create jobs and boost spending in town; and the housing would make it easier to attract new hires to fill some of the community’s workplace vacancies.
In total, a “free” sale could bring a lot of good to Wrangell in exchange for handing off an empty building that serves no purpose.
— Wrangell Sentinel
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