Capital investment firm eyes CVB site

PALMER — A private investment firm wants to use a parcel of Mat-Su Borough property to build a transitional care facility on the present site of the Mat-Su Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

Details about the plan were sparse, including how big the facility might be, how many people it might employ or potential patients it might serve, or what effect the construction of such a facility might have on health care costs in the Valley.

However, borough assembly members appeared receptive to the idea in testimony at the May 27 borough meeting, when Douglas Clegg, the manager of Spring Creek Capital LLC in Eagle, Idaho, formally announced his intention to seek the property.

Clegg said the company intends to build a sizable facility to provide transitional care, which would first allow patients treated at the adjacent Mat-Su Regional Medical Center to recover from major medical procedures in a controlled environment, and would also allow for long-term housing for the elderly, Clegg said. The facility may also eventually contain long-term care facilities, he said Thursday.

“Transitional care is anything that is between the hospital and home,” he said. “Some of those cases end up permanent, meaning they turn into long-term residents.”

The issue may ultimately prove as important for prospective Valley residents as the quality of the local school system, Clegg told assembly members.

“If I was a person who was going to relocate here and live here, and I have a loved one that was eventually going to need this type of care, that would be this type of care, that would be my second question: ‘Are there facilities adequate to meet the needs of my parents?’” he said.

Changing Valley demographics are pointing toward increased demand for the facility, at least anecdotally, Clegg said.

“There’s story after story that we’ve heard since we’ve been here: people that live here and have a loved one that goes to the hospital, and when they’re done with that experience, there’s no place for them to stay,” he said.

The lone doctor on the assembly, District 6 assemblywoman Barbara Doty, labeled the issue of transition care in the Valley a “crisis.”

“This is something that’s been desperately needed in this community for years and years,” she said. “Those of us that have been attending hospital briefings are very much aware that those hospital beds are full of people that shouldn’t be there.”

Asked Thursday how many jobs the facility might provide, or beds it might contain, Clegg was reluctant to cite a number, saying the development of the facility was very tenuous. Officials have created a concept plan, including figuring out how to work around the Mat-Su Veterans Wall of Honor, which sits on one corner of the site, but don’t yet have hard figures.

“We not only have to build it, we have to stabilize it,” he said.

The facility’s ultimate size could be rolled out in phases, Clegg added.

Borough Manager John Moosey said both sides had committed to an appraisal of the site, and that Spring Creek had made an offer. Moosey said he had agreed to keep the offer amount confidential, saying the release of that information could potentially be unfair to Spring Creek. Borough assembly members may also put out a “request for proposal” for the property, if they feel they can earn more money from other offers, Moosey said.

“There may be a decision that from our perspective, because the borough holds the title to the property, that Spring Creek Capital is bringing great services, senior services that we don’t have or are in need of, that we may do a notwithstanding and sell directly, if it’s justifiable,” he said. “But we’re not there yet.”

The borough currently holds the property in trust for the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. The now-defunct Great Western Savings Bank gave the property to the borough in 1988 specifically for the construction of a visitor’s center, according to the deed. Borough officials assessed the property and building at $867,000 last year. Tax assessments are typically well below potential sales prices.

Convention and Visitor’s Bureau officials generally say the sale of the present building could provide capital for a planned site overlooking the Palmer Hay Flats. Bureau Director Bonnie Quill was travelling and unavailable for immediate comment.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.